A HISTORY OF MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE VOLUME I A HISTORY OF MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE DURING THE FIRST THIRTEEN CENTURIES OF OUR ERA BY LYNN THORNDIKE VOLUME I COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW YORK AND LONDON Copyright 1923 Columbia University Press First published by The Macmillan Company 1923 ISBN 0-231-08794-2 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 CONTENTS PAGE Preface • -.r. , ix Abbreviations xiii Designation of Manuscripts xv List of Works Frequently Cited by Author and Date of Publication or Brief Title xvii CHAPTER I. Introduction i BOOK I. THE ROMAN EMPIRE Foreword 39 2. Pliny's Natural History 41 I, Its Place in the History of Science 42 11. Its Experimental Tendency 53 HI. Pliny's Account of Magic 58 IV. The Science of the Magi 64 V. Pliny's Magical Science 72 3. Seneca and Ptolemy: Natural Divination and As- trology 100 4. Galen 117 I. The Man and His Times 119 II. His Medicine and Experimental Science . . . 139 HI. His Attitude Tovi^ard Magic 165 5. Ancient Applied Science and Magic: Vitruvius, Hero, and the Greek Alchemists 182 6. Plutarch's Essays 200 7. Apuleius of Mad aura 221 8. Philostratus's Life of Apollonius of Tyana . . . 242 9. Literary and Philosophical Attacks upon Supersti- tion : Cicero, Favorinus, Sextus Empiricus, Lucian 268 TO. Spurious Mystic Writings of Hermes, Orpheus, and Zoroaster 287 T vi CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGB n. Neo-Platonism and Its Relations to Astrology and Theurgy 298 12. Aelian, Solinus, and Horapollo 322 BOOK II. EARLY CHRISTIAN THOUGHT Foreword 337 13. The Book of Enoch 340 14. Philo Judaeus 348 15. The Gnostics 360 16. The Christian Apocrypha 385 17. The Recognitions of Clement and Simon Magus . 400 18. The Confession of Cyprian and Some Similar Stories 428 19. Origen and Celsus 436 20. Other Christian Discussion of Magic Before Augus- tine 462 21. Christianity and Natural Science: Basil, Epipha- Nius, and the Physiologus 480 22. Augustine on Magic and Astrology 504 23. The Fusion of Pagan and Christian Thought in the Fourth and Fifth Centuries 523 BOOK III. THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES 24. The Story of Nectanebus, or the Alexander Legend in the Early Middle Ages 551 25. Post-Classical Medicine 566 26. Pseudo-Literature in Natural Science .... 594 27. Other Early Medieval Learning: Boethius, Isidore, Bede, Gregory 616 28. Arabic Occult Science of the Ninth Century . . 641 29. Latin Astrology and Divination, Especially in the Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Centuries . . . 672 30. Gerbert and the Introduction of Arabic Astrology 697 31. Anglo-Saxon, Salernitan and Other Latin Medi- cine IN Manuscripts from the Ninth to the Twelfth Century 719 32. Constantinus Africanus (c. ioi 5-1087) .... 742 33. Treatises on the Arts Before the Introduction of Arabic Alchemy 760 34. Marbod 775 Indices: General 7^3 Bibliographical 811 Manuscripts 831 CONTENTS vU BOOK IV. THE TWELFTH CENTURY CHAPTER PAGB 35. The Early Scholastics: Peter Abelard and Hugh OF St. Victor 3 36. Adelard of Bath 14 37. William of Conches 50 38. Some Twelfth Century Translators, Chiefly of Astrology from the Arabic 66 39. Bernard Silvester; Astrology and Geomancy . . 99 40. Saint Hildegard of Bingen 124 41. John of Salisbury 155 42. Daniel of Morley and Roger of Hereford .... 171 43. Alexander Neckam on the Natures of Things . . 188 44. Moses Maimonides 205 45. Hermetic Books in the Middle Ages 214 46. Kiranides 229 47. Prester John and the Marvels of India .... 236 48. The Pseudo-Aristotle 246 49. Solomon and the Ars Notoria 279 50. Ancient and Medieval Dream-Books 290 BOOK V. THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY Forev^ord 305 51. Michael Scot 307 52. William of Auvergne 338 53. Thomas of Cantimpre 372 54. Bartholomew of England 401 55. Robert Grosseteste 436 56. Vincent of Beauvais 457 57. Early Thirteenth Century Medicine: Gilbert of England and William of England 477 58. Petrus Hispanus 488 59. Albertus Magnus 5^7 I. Life 521 II. As a Scientist 528 HI, His Allusions to Magic 548 IV. Marvelous Virtues in Nature 560 V. Attitude Toward Astrology 577 viii CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE 60. Thomas Aquinas 593 61. Roger Bacon 616 I. Life 619 II. Criticism of and Part in Medieval Learning . 630 III. Experimental Science 649 IV. Attitude Toward Magic and Astrology . . . 659 62. The Speculum Astronomiae 692 6^. Three Treatises Ascribed to Albert 720 64. Experiments and Secrets: Medical and Biological . 751 65. Experiments and Secrets : Chemical and Magical . 777 66. PiCATRIX 813 67. GUIDO BONATTI AND BARTHOLOMEW OF PaRMA . . . 825 68. Arnald of Villanova 841 69. Raymond Lull 862 70. Peter of Abano 874 71. Cecco d'Ascoli 948 72. Conclusion 969 Indices : General 985 Bibliographical 1007 Manuscripts ......••••••■. 1027 PREFACE This work has been long in preparation — ever since in 1902-1903 Professor James Harvey Robinson, when my mind was still in the making, suggested the study of magic in medieval universities as the subject of my thesis for the master's degree at Columbia University — and has been foreshadowed by other publications, some of which are listed under my name in the preliminary bibliography. Since this was set up in type there have also appeared: "Galen : the Man and His Times," in The Scientific Monthly, January, 1922; "Early Christianity and Natural Science," in The Biblical Review, July, 1922; "The Latin Pseudo- Aristotle and Medieval Occult Science," in The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, April, 1922 ; and notes on Daniel of Morley and Gundissalinus in The English His- torical Review. For permission to make use of these pre- vious publications in the present work I am indebted to the editors of the periodicals just mentioned, and also to the editors of The Columbia University Studies in History, Economics, and Public Law, The American Historical Re- view, Classical Philology, The Monist, Nature, The Philo- sophical Review, and Science. The form, however, of these previous publications has often been altered in embodying them in this book, and, taken together, they constitute but a fraction of it. Book I greatly amplifies the account of magic in the Roman Empire contained in my doctoral dis- sertation. Over ten years ago I prepared an account of magic and science in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries based on material available in print in libraries of this country and arranged topically, but I did not publish it, as it seemed advisable to supplement it by study abroad and of the manuscript material, and to adopt an arrangement by authors. The result is Books IV and V of the present work. My examination of manuscripts has been done especially at the British Museum, whose rich collections, perhaps be- cause somewhat inaccessibly catalogued, have been less used by students of medieval learning than such libraries as the X PREFACE Bodleian and Bibliotheque Nationale. I have worked also, however, at both Oxford and Paris, at Munich, Florence, Bologna, and elsewhere ; but it has of course been impossible to examine all the thousands of manuscripts bearing upon the subject, and the war prevented me from visiting some libraries, such as the important medieval collection of Am- plonius at Erfurt. However, a fairly wide survey of the catalogues of collections of manuscripts has convinced me that I have read a representative selection. Such classified lists of medieval manuscripts as Mrs. Dorothea Singer has undertaken for the British Isles should greatly facilitate the future labors of investigators in this field. Although working in a rather new field, I have been aided by editions of medieval writers produced by modern scholarship, and by various series, books, and articles tend- ing, at least, in the same direction as mine. Some such publications have appeared or come to my notice too late for use or even for mention in the text : for instance, another edition of the De medicamentis of Marcellus Empiricus by M. Niedermann; the printing of the Twelve Experiments with Snake skin of John Paulinus by J. W. S. Johnsson in Bull. d. I. societe frang. d^hist. d. I. med., XII, 257-67; the detailed studies of Sante Ferrari on Peter of Abano; and A. Franz, Die kirchlichen Benediktionen im Mittelalter, 1909, 2 vols. The breeding place of the eel (to which I allude at I, 491) is now, as a result of recent investigation by Dr. J. Schmidt, placed "about 2500 miles from the mouth of the English Channel and 500 miles north-east of the Leeward Islands" {Discovery, Oct., 1922, p. 256) instead of in the Mediterranean. A man who once wrote in Dublin * complained of the difficulty of composing a learned work so far from the Bodleian and British Museum, and I have often felt the same way. When able to visit foreign collections or the largest libraries in this country, or when books have been sent for my use for a limited period, I have spent all the available time in the collection of material, which has been written up later as opportunity offered. Naturally one then finds many small and some important points which require verification or further investigation, but which must be postponed until one's next vacation or trip abroad, by which time some of the smaller points are apt to be forgotten. * H. Cotton, Five Books of Maccabees, 1832, pp. ix-x. PREFACE xi Of such loose threads I fear that more remain than could be desired. And I have so often caught myself in the act of misinterpretation, misplaced emphasis, and other mistakes, that I have no doubt there are other errors as w^ell as omissions which other scholars will be able to point out and which I trust they will. Despite this prospect, I have been bold in affirming my independent opinion on any point where I have one, even if it conflicts with that of specialists or puts me in the position of criticizing my betters. Con- stant questioning, criticism, new points of view, and conflict of opinion are essential in the pursuit of truth. After some hesitation I decided, because of the expense, the length of the work, and the increasing unfamiliarity of readers with Greek and Latin, as a rule not to give in the footnotes the original language of passages used in the text. I have, however, usually supplied the Latin or Greek when I have made a free translation or one with which I felt that others might not agree. But in such cases I advise critics not to reject my rendering utterly without some fur- ther examination of the context and line of thought of the author or treatise in question, since the wording of particu- lar passages in texts and manuscripts is liable to be corrupt, and since my purpose in quoting particular passages is to illustrate the general attitude of the author or treatise. In describing manuscripts I have employed quotation marks when I knew from personal examination or otherwise that the Latin was that of the manuscript itself, and have omitted quotation marks where the Latin seemed rather to be that of the description in the catalogue. Usually I have let the faulty spelling and syntax of medieval copyists stand without comment. But as I am not an expert in palaeog- raphy and have examined a large number of manuscripts primarily for their substance, the reader should not regard my Latin quotations from them as exact transliterations or carefully considered texts. He should also remember that th-ere is little uniformity in the manuscripts themselves. I have tried to reduce the bulk of the footnotes by the briefest forms of reference consistent with clearness — con- sult lists of abbreviations and of works frequently cited by author and date of publication — and by use of appendices at the close of certain chapters. Within the limits of a preface I may not enumerate all the libraries where I have been permitted to work or which xii PREFACE have generously sent books — sometimes rare volumes — to Cleveland for my use, or all the librarians who have person- ally assisted my researches or courteously and carefully an- swered my written inquiries, or the other scholars who have aided or encouraged the preparation of this work, but I hope they may feel that their kindness has not been in vain. In library matters I have perhaps most frequently imposed upon the good nature of Mr, Frederic C. Erb of the Co- lumbia University Library, Mr. Gordon W. Thayer, in charge of the John G. White collection in the Cleveland Public Library, and Mr. George F. Strong, librarian of Adelbert College, Western Reserve University; and I cannot forbear to mention the interest shown in my work by Dr. R. L. Poole at the Bodleian. For letters facilitating my studies abroad before the war or application for a passport immediately after the war I am indebted to the Hon. Philander C. Knox, then Secretary of State, to Frederick P. Keppel, then Assistant Secretary of War, to Drs. J. Franklin Jameson and Charles F. Thwing, and to Professors Henry E. Bourne and Henry Crew. Professors C. H. Haskins,^ L. C. Karpinski, W. G. Leutner, W. A, Locy, D. B. Macdonald, L. J. Paetow, S. B. Platner, E. C. Rich- ardson, James Harvey Robinson, David Eugene Smith, D'Arcy W. Thompson, A. H. Thorndike, E. L. Thorndike, T. Wingate Todd, and Hutton Webster, and Drs. Charles Singer and Se Boyar have kindly read various chapters in manuscript or proof and offered helpful suggestions. The burden of proof-reading has been generously shared with me by Professors B. P. Bourland, C. D. Lamberton, and Walter Libby, and especially by Professor Harold North Fowler who has corrected proof for practically the entire work. After receiving such expert aid and sound counsel I must assume all the deeper guilt for such faults and indis- cretions as the book may display. * But Professor Haskins' recent article in Isis on "Michael Scot and Frederick 11" and my chapter on Michael Scot were written quite independently. ABBREVIATIONS Abhandl. Abhandlungen zur Geschichte der Mathema- tischen Wissenschaften, begrundet von M. Cantor, Teubner, Leipzig. Addit. Additional Manuscripts in the British Museum. Amplon, Manuscript collection of Amplonius Ratinck at Erfurt. AN Ante-Nicene Fathers, American Reprint of the Edinburgh edition, in 9 vols., 191 3. AS Acta sanctorum. Beitrage Beitrage zur Geschichte der Philosophie des Mittelalters, ed. by C, Baeumker, G. v. Hert- ling, M. Baumgartner, et al., Miinster, 1891-. BL Bodleian Library, Oxford, BM British Museum, London. BN Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. Borgnet Augustus Borgnet, ed. B. Alberti Magni Opera omnia, Paris, 1890- 1899, in 38 vols. Brewer Fr. Rogeri Bacon Opera quaedam hactenus in- edita, ed. J. S. Brewer, London, 1859, in RS, XV, Bridges The Opus Maius of Roger Bacon, ed, J. H. Bridges, I-II, Oxford, 1897; III, 1900, CCAG Catalogus codicum astrologorum Graecorum, ed. F. Cumont, W. Kroll, F. Boll, et al., 1898, CE Catholic Encyclopedia. CFCB Census of Fifteenth Century Books Owned in America, compiled by a committee of the Bib- liographical Society of America, New York, 1919. CLM Codex Latinus Monacensis (Latin MS at Mu- nich). xfv MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE CSEL Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum latinorum, Vienna, i866~, CU Cambridge University (used to distinguish MSS in colleges having the same names as those at Oxford). CUL Cambridge University Library. DNB Dictionary of National Biography. EB Encyclopedia Britannica, nth edition. EETS Early English Text Society Publications. EHR English Historical Review. ERE Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, ed. J. Hastings et al., 1908-. HL Histoire Litteraire de la France. HZ Historische Zeitschrift, Munich, 1859-. Kiihn Medici Graeci, ed. C. J. Kiihn, Leipzig, 1829, containing the v^orks of Galen, Dioscorides, etc. MG Monumenta Germaniae. MS Manuscript. MSS Manuscripts. Muratori Rerum Italicarum scriptores ab anno aerae chris- tianae 500 ad 1500, ed. L. A. Muratori, 1723- 1751. NH C. Plinii Secundi Naturalis Historia (Pliny's Natural History). PG Migne, Patrologiae cursus completus, series graeca. PL Migne, Patrologiae cursus completus, series latina. PN The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, ed. Wace and Schaff, 1890-1900, 14 vols. PW Pauly and Wissowa, Realencyclopadie der class- ischen Altertumswissenschaft. RS "Rolls Series," or Rerum Britannicarum medii aevi scriptores, 99 works in 244 vols., Lon- don, 1 858- 1 896. ABBREVIATIONS xv TU Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur, ed. Gebhardt und Hamack. DESIGNATION OF MANUSCRIPTS Individual manuscripts are usually briefly designated in the ensuing notes and appendices by a single word indicating the place or collection where the MS is found and the num- ber or shelf-mark of the individual MS. So many of the catalogues of MSS collections which I consulted were un- dated and without name of author that I have decided to attempt no catalogue of them. The brief designations that I give will be sufficient for anyone who is interested in MSS. In giving Latin titles, Incipifs, and the like of MSS I employ quotation marks when I know from personal examination or otherwise that the wording is that of the MS itself, and omit the marks where the Latin seems rather to be that of the description in the manuscript catalogue or other source of information. In the following List of Works Frequently Cited are included a few MSS catalogues whose authors I shall have occasion to refer to by name. LIST OF WORKS FREQUENTLY CITED BY AUTHOR AND DATE OF PUBLICATION OR BRIEF TITLE For more detailed bibliography on specific topics and for editions or manuscripts of the texts used see the bibliogra- phies, references, and appendices to individual chapters. I also include here some works of general interest or of rather cursory character which I have not had occasion to mention elsewhere; and I usually add, for purposes of differentia- tion, other works in our field by an author than those works by him which are frequently cited. Of the many histories of the sciences, medicine, and magic that have appeared since the invention of printing I have included but a small selec- tion. Almost without exception they have to be used with the greatest caution. Abano, Peter of. Conciliator differentiarum philosophorum et praecipue medicorum, 1472, 1476, 1521, 1526, etc. De venenis, 1472, 1476, 1484, 1490, 1515, 1521, etc. Abel, ed. Orphica, 1885. Abelard, Peter. Opera hactenus seorsim edita, ed. V. Cou- sin, Paris, 1849-1859, 2 vols. Ouvrages inedits, ed. V. Cousin, 1835. Abt, Die Apologie des Apuleius von Madaura und die an- tike Zauberei, Giessen, 1908. Achmetis Oneirocriticon, ed. Rigaltius, Paris, 1603. Adelard of Bath, Ouaestiones naturales, 1480, 1485, etc. De eodem et diverso, ed. H. Willner, Miinster, 1903. Ahrens, K. Das Buch der Naturgegenstande, 1892. Zur Geschichte des sogenannten Physiologus, 1885. Ailly, Pierre d', Tractatus de ymagine mundi (and other works), 1480 (?). Albertus Magnus, Opera omnia, ed. A. Borgnet, Paris, 1890- 1899, 38 vols. xviii MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE Allbutt, Sir T. Clifford. The Historical Relations of Medi- cine and Surgery to the End of the Sixteenth Century, London, 1905, 122 pp.; an address delivered at the St. Louis Congress in 1904. The Rise of the Experimental Method in Oxford, Lon- don, 1902, 53 pp., from Journal of the Oxford Univer- sity Junior Scientific Club, May, 1902, being the ninth Robert Boyle Lecture. Science and Medieval Thought, London, 1901, 116 brief pages. The Harveian Oration delivered before the Royal College of Physicians. Allendy, R. F. L'Alchimie et la Medecine; fitude sur les theories hermetiques dans I'histoire de la medecine, Paris, 1 91 2, 155 pp. Anz, W. Zur Frage nach dem Ursprung des Gnostizismus, Leipzig, 1897. Aquinas, Thomas. Opera omnia, ed. E. Frette et P. Mare, Paris, 1 87 1 -1880, 34 vols. Aristotle, De animalibus historia, ed. Dittmeyer, 1907; En- glish translations by R. Creswell, 1848, and D'Arcy W. Thompson, Oxford, 1910. Pseudo-Aristotle. Lapidarius, Merszborg, 1473. Secretum secretorum, Latin translation from the Arabic by Philip of Tripoli in many editions; and see Gaster. Arnald of Villanova, Opera, Lyons, 1532. Artemidori Daldiani et Achmetis Sereimi F. Oneirocritica ; Astrampsychi et Nicephori versus etiam Oneirocritici ; Nicolai Rigaltii ad Artemidorum Notae, Paris, 1603. Ashmole, Elias, Theatrum chemicum Britannicum, 1652. Astruc, Jean. Memoires pour servir a I'histoire de la Fa- culte de Medecine de Montpellier, Paris, 1767. Auri ferae artis quam chemiam vocant antiquissimi auctores, Basel, 1572. Barach et Wrobel, Bibliotheca Philosophorum Mediae Aeta- tis, 1876-1878, 2 vols. Bartholomew of England, De proprietatibus rerum Lingel- bach, Heidelberg, 1488, and other editions. WORKS FREQUENTLY CITED xix Bauhin, De plantis a divis sanctisve nomen habentibus, Basel, 1 59 1. Baur, Ludwig, ed. Gundissalinus De divisione philosophiae, Miinster, 1903. Die Philosophischen Werke des Robert Grosseteste, Miinster, 19 12. Beazley, C. R. The Dawn of Modern Geography, London, 1 897-1 906, 3 vols. Bernard, E. Catalog! librorum manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae in unum collecti (The old catalogue of the Bodleian MSS), Tom. I, Pars i, Oxford, 1697. Berthelot, P. E. M. Archeologie et histoire des sciences avec publication nouvelle du papyrus grec chimique de Leyde et impression originale du Liber de septuaginta de Geber, Paris, 1906. Collection des anciens alchimistes grecs, 1887- 1888, 3 vols. Introduction a I'etude de la chimie des anciens et du moyen age, 1889. La chimie au moyen age, 1893, 3 vols. Les origines de I'alchimie, 1885. Sur les voyages de Galien et de Zosime dans I'Archipel et en Asie, et sur la matiere medicale dans I'antiquite, in Journal des Savants, 1895, PP- 382-7. Bezold, F. von, Astrologische Geschichtsconstruction im Mittelalter, in Deutsche Zeitschrift fiir Geschichtswiss- enschaft, VIII (1892) 29ff. Bibliotheca Chemica. See Borel and Manget. Bjornbo, A. A. und Vogl, S. Alkindi, Tideus, und Pseudo- Euklid; drei optische Werke, Leipzig, 191 1. Black, W. H. Catalogue of the Ashmolean Manuscripts, Oxford, 1845. Boffito, P. G. II Commento di Cecco d'Ascoli all' Alcabizzo, Florence, 1905. II De principiis astrologiae di Cecco d'Ascoli, in Gior- nale Storico della Letteratura Italiana, Suppl. 6, Turin, 1903. XX MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE Perche fu condannato al fuoco I'astrologo Cecco d'As- coli, in Studi e Documenti di Storia e Diritto, Publi- cazione periodica dell' accademia de conferenza Storico- Giuridiche, Rome, XX (1899). Boll, Franz. Die Erforschung der antiken Astrologie, in Neue Jahrb. f. d. klass. Altert., XI (1908) 103-26. Eine arabisch-byzantische Quelle des Dialogs Hermip- pus, in Sitzb. Heidelberg Akad., Philos. Hist. Classe (1912) No. 18, 28 pp. Sphaera, Leipzig, 1903. Studien iiber Claudius Ptolemaeus, in Jahrb. f. klass. Philol., Suppl. Bd. XXI. Zur Ueberlieferungsgeschichte d. griech. Astrologie u. Astronomie, in Miinch. Akad. Sitzb., 1899. Boll und Bezold, Stemglauben, Leipzig, 19 18; I have not seen. Bonatti, Guido. Liber astronomicus, Ratdolt, Augsburg, 1491. Boncompagni, B. Delia vita e delle Opere di Gherardo Cremonese traduttore del secolo duodecimo e di Ghe- rardo da Sabbionetta astronomo del secolo decimoterzo, Rome, 1 85 1. Delia vita e delle opere di Guido Bonatti astrologo ed astronomo del secolo decimoterzo, Rome, 1851. Estratte dal Giornale Arcadico, Tomo CXXIII- CXXIV. Delia vita e delle opere di Leonardo Pisano, Rome, 1852. Intorno ad alcune opere di Leonardo Pisano, Rome, 1854. Borel, P. Bibliotheca Chimica seu catalogus librorum phi- losophicorum hermeticorum usque ad annum 1653, Paris, 1654. Bostock, J. and Riley, H. T. The Natural History of Pliny, translated with copious notes, London, 1855 ; reprinted 1887. Bouche-Leclercq, A. L'astrologie dans le monde romain, in Revue Historique, vol. 65 (1897) 241-99. WORKS FREQUENTLY CITED xxi L'astrologie grecque, Paris, 1899, 658 pp. Histoire de la divination dans I'antiquite, 1879- 1882, 4 vols. Breasted, J. H. Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, New York, 191 2. A History of Egypt, 1905; second ed., 1909. Brehaut, E. An Encyclopedist of the Dark Ages; Isidore of Seville, in Columbia University Studies in History, etc., vol. 48 (1912) 1-274. Brewer, J. S. Monumenta Franciscana (RS IV, i), Lon- don, 1858. Brown, J. Wood. An inquiry into the life and legend of Michael Scot, Edinburgh, 1897. Browne, Edward G. Arabian Medicine (the Fitzpatrick Lectures of 1919 and 1920), Cambridge University Press, 1 92 1. Browne, Sir Thomas. Pseudodoxia Epidemica, 1650. Bubnov, N. ed. Gerberti opera mathematica, Berlin, 1899. Budge, E. A. W. Egyptian Magic, London, 1899. Ethiopic Histories of Alexander by the Pseudo-Callis- thenes and other writers, Cambridge University Press, 1896. Syriac Version of Pseudo-Callisthenes, Cambridge, 1889. Syrian Anatomy, Pathology, and Therapeutics, Lon- don, 1 91 3, 2 vols. Bunbury, E. H. A History of Ancient Geography, London, 1879, 2 vols. Cahier et Martin, Melanges d'archeologie, d'histoire et de litterature, Paris, 1847-1856, 4 folio vols. Cajori, F. History of Mathematics; second edition, revised and enlarged, 191 9. Cantor, M. Vorlesungen iiber Geschichte der Mathematik, 3rd edition, Leipzig, 1 899-1 908, 4 vols. Reprint of vol. II in 1913. Carini, S. I. Sulle Scienze Occulte nel Medio Evo, Palermo, 1872 ; I have not seen. xxii MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE Cauzons, Th. de. La magie et la sorcellerie en France, 1910, 4 vols. ; largely compiled from secondary sources. Charles, E. Roger Bacon: sa vie, ses ouvrages, ses doc- trines, Bordeaux, 1861. Charles, R. H. The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, English translation with introductions and critical and explanatory notes in conjunction with many scholars, Oxford, 191 3, 2 large vols. Ascension of Isaiah, 1900, and reprinted in 1917. The Book of Enoch, Oxford, 1893; translated anew, 1912. Charles, R. H. and Morfill, W. R. The Book of the Secrets of Enoch, Oxford, 1896. Charterius, Renatus ed. Galeni opera, Paris, 1679, 13 vols. Chartularium Universitatis Parisiensis, see Denifle et Cha- telain. Chassang, A. Le merveilleux dans I'antiquite, 1882 ; I have not seen. Choulant, Ludwig. Albertus Magnus in seiner Bedeutung fiir die Naturwissenschaften historisch und bibliogra- phisch dargestellt, in Janus, I (1846) I52ff. Die Anfange wissenschaftlicher Naturgeschichte und naturhistorischer Abbildung, Dresden, 1856. Handbuch der Biicherkunde fiir die altere Medicin, 2nd edition, Leipzig, 1841 ; like the foregoing, slighter than the title leads one to hope. ed. Macer Floridus de viribus herbarum una cum Wala- fridi Strabonis, Othonis Cremonensis et loannis Folcz carminibus similis argumenti, 1832. Christ, W. Geschichte der Griechischen Litteratur; see W. Schmid. Chwolson, D. Die Ssabier und der Ssabismus, Petrograd, 1856, 2 vols. Clement-Mullet, J. J. Essai sur la mineralogie arabe, Paris, 1868, in Journal asiatique. Tome XI, Serie YI. Traite des poisons de Maimonide, 1865. WORKS FREQUENTLY CITED xxiii Clerval, Hermann le Dalmate, Paris, 1891, eleven pp. Les ecoles de Chartres au moyen age, Chartres, 1895. Cockayne, O. Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England, in RS XXXV, London, 1864-1866, 3 vols. Narratiunculae anglice conscriptae, 1861. Congres Periodique International des Sciences Medicales, 17th Session, London, Section XXIII, History of Medi- cine, 1913. Cousin, V. See Abelard. Coxe, H. O. Catalogi Codicum Manuscriptorum Bibliothe- cae Bodleianae Pars Secunda Codices Latinos et Mis- cellaneos Laudianos complectens, Oxford, 1858-1885. Catalogi Codicum Manuscriptorum Bibliothecae Bodlei- anae Pars Tertia Codices Graecos et Latinos Canoni- cianos complectens, Oxford, 1854. Catalogus Codicum Manuscriptorum qui in collegiis au- lisque Oxoniensibus hodie adservantur, 1852, 2 vols. Cumont, F. Astrology and Religion among the Greeks and Romans, 1912, 2 vols. And see CCAG under Abbre- viations. Daremberg, Ch. V. Exposition des connaissances de Galien sur I'anatomie, la physiologic, et la pathologic du sys- teme nerveux, Paris, 1841. Histoire des sciences medicales, Paris, 1870, 2 vols. La medecine; histoire et doctrines, Paris, 1865. Notices et extraits des manuscrits medicaux, 1853. Delambre, J. B. J. Histoire de I'astronomie du moyen age, Paris, 1819. Delisle, L. Inventaire des manuscrits latins conserves a la bibhotheque nationale sous les numeros 8823- 186 13 et faisant suite a la serie dont la catalogue a ete public en 1744, Paris, 1863-1871. Denifle, H. Quellen zur Gelehrtengeschichte des Prediger- ordens im 13 und 14 Jahrhundert, in Archiv f. Lit. u. Kirchengesch. d. Mittelalters, Berlin, II (1886) 165- 248. xxiv MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE Denifle et Chatelain, Chartularium Universitatis Parisiensis, Paris, 1 889-1 891, 2 vols. Denis, F. Le monde enchante, cosmographie et histoire naturelles fantastiques du moyen age, Paris, 1843. 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Zum Speculum astronomicum des Albertus Magnus liber die darin angefiihrten Schriftsteller und Schriften, in Zeitschrift fiir Mathematik und Physik, Leipzig, XVI (1871)357-96.^ Zur alchimistischen Literatur der Araber, in Zeitsch, d. deut. morgenl. Gesell., LVIH (1904) 299-315. Zur pseudepigraphischen Literatur insbesondere der ge- heimen Wissenschaften des Mittelalters; aus hebrai- schen und arabischen Quellen, Berlin, 1862. Stephanus, H. Medicae artis principes post Hippocratem et Galenum Graeci Latinitate donati, et Latini, 1567. Strunz, Franz. Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften im Mit- telalter, Stuttgart, 1910, 120 pp. Without index or ref- erences. Studien zur Geschichte der Medizin herausgegeben von der Puschmann-Stiftung an der Universitat Leipzig, 1907-. Sudhoff, Karl. His various articles in the foregoing publi- cation and other periodicals of which he is an editor lie in large measure just outside our period and field, but some will be noted later in particular chapters. Suter, H. Die Mathematiker und Astronomen der Araber, in Abhandl., X (1900) 1-277; XIV (1902) 257-85. Die astronomischen Tafeln des Muhammed ibn Musa- al-Khwarizmi, Copenhagen, 19 14. Tanner, T. Bibliotheca Britannico-Hibernica, London, 1748. Still much cited but largely antiquated and un- reliable. xxxviii MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE Tavenner, E, Studies in Magic from Latin Literature, New York, 1 916. Taylor, H. O. The Classical Heritage, 1901. The Medieval Mind, 2nd edition, 1914, 2 vols; 3rd edi- tion, 191 9. Theatrum chemicum. See Zetzner. Theatrum chemicum Britannicum. See Ashmole. Theophilus Presbyter, Schedula diversarum artium, ed. A. Ilg, Vienna, 1874; English translation by R. Hendrie, London, 1847. Thomas of Cantimpre, Bonum universale de apibus, 15 16. Thompson, D'Arcy W. Aristotle as a Biologist, 1913. Glossary of Greek Birds, Oxford, 1895. Historia animalium, Oxford, 19 10; vol. IV in the Eng- lish translation of The Works of Aristotle edited by J. A. Smith and W. D. Ross. Thorndike, Lynn. Adelard of Bath and the Continuity of Universal Nature, in Nature, XCIV (191 5) 616-7. A Roman Astrologer as a Historical Source : Julius Firmicus Maternus, in Classical Philology, VHI (1913) 415-35- Natural Science in the Middle Ages, in Popular Science Monthly (now The Scientific Monthly), LXXXVH (1915) 271-91. Roger Bacon and Gunpowder, in Science, XLH (1915), 799-800. Roger Bacon and Experimental Method in the Middle Ages, in The Philosophical Review, XXIH (1914), 271-98. Some Medieval Conceptions of Magic, in The Monist, XXV (1915). 107-39. The Attitude of Origen and Augustine toward Magic, in The Monist, XIX (1908), 46-66. The Place of Magic in the Intellectual History of Europe, Columbia University Press, 1905. The True Roger Bacon, in American Historical Re- view, XXI (1916), 237-57, 468-80. WORKS FREQUENTLY CITED xxxix Tiraboschi. Storia della Letteratura Italiana, Modena, 1772-1795. Tischendorf, C. Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha, Leipzig, 1851. Evang-elia Apocrypha, Leipzig, 1876. Toply, R. von, Studien zur Geschichte der Anatomic im Mittelalter, 1898. Unger, F. Die Pflanze als Zaubermittel, Vienna, 1859. Vacant, A. et Mangenot, E. Dictionnaire de theologie catholique, Paris, 1909-. Valentinelli, J. Bibliotheca manuscripta ad S. Marci Venetiarum, Venice, 1 868-1 876, 6 vols. Valois, Noel. Guillaume d'Auvergne, eveque de Paris, 1228-1249. Sa vie et ses ouvrages, Paris, 1880. Vincent of Beauvais. Speculum doctrinale, 1472 (?). Speculum historiale, 1473. Speculum naturale, Anth. Koburger, Niimberg, 1485. Vossius, G. J. De Universae Matheseos natura et constitu- tione liber, Amsterdam, 1650. Walsh, J. J. Medieval Medicine, 1920, 221 pp. Old Time Makers of Medicine; the story of the stu- dents and teachers of the sciences related to medicine during the middle ages, New York, 191 1. Popular. The Popes and Science, 1908. Webb, C. C. L See John of Salisbury. Webster, Hutton. Rest Days, 19 16. Wedel, T. C. The Medieval Attitude toward Astrology particularly in England, Yale University Press, 1920. Wellmann, Max. ed. Dioscorides de materia medica, 1907, 1906. Die Schrift des Dioskurides Ilept airXcJv (j^apnaKchv, 1914. White, A. D. A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom, New York, 1896, 2 vols. Wickersheimer, Ernest. Figures medico-astrologiques des neuvieme, dixieme et onzieme siecles, in Transactions of the Seventeenth International Congress of Medicine, xl MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE Section XXIII, History of Medicine, London, 1913, P- 313 ff. William of Auvergne. Opera omnia, Venice, 1591. Withington, E, T. Medical History from the Earliest Times, London, 1894. Wright, Thomas. Popular Treatises on Science written during the middle ages in Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Nor- man, and English, London, 1841, ed. Alexander Neckam De naturis rerum, in RS vol. 34, 1863. Wulf, M. de. History of Medieval Philosophy, 1909, English translation. Wiistenfeld, F. Geschichte der Arabischen Aerzte und Naturforscher, Gottingen, 1840. Yule, Sir Henry, The Book of Ser Marco Polo, third edition revised by Henri Cordier, 2 vols., London, 1903. Zarncke, F. Der Priester Johannes, in Abhandl. d. philol.- hist. Classe, Kgl. Sachs. Gesell. d. Wiss., VII (1879), 627-1030; VIII (1883), 1-186. Zetzner, L. Theatrum chemicum, 161 3- 1622, 6 vols. A HISTORY OF MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE VOLUME I A HISTORY OF MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE AND THEIR RELATION TO CHRISTIAN THOUGHT DURING THE FIRST THIRTEEN CEN- TURIES OF OUR ERA CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Aim of this book — Period covered — How to study the history of thought — Definition of magic — Magic of primitive man ; does civiliza- tion originate in magic? — Divination in early China — Magic in ancient Egypt — Magic and Egyptian religion— Mortuary magic — Magic in daily life — Power of words, images, amulets — Magic in Egyptian medicine — Demons and disease — Magic and science — Magic and industry — Alchemy ■ — Divination and astrology — The sources for Assyrian and Babylonian magic — ^Was astrology Sumerian or Chaldean? — The number seven in early Babylonia — Incantation texts older than astrological — Other divination than astrology — Incantations against sorcery and demons — A specimen incantation — Materials and devices of magic — Greek culture not free from magic — Magic in myth, literature, and history — Simul- taneous increase of learning and occult science — Magic origin urged for Greek religion and drama — Magic in Greek philosophy — Plato's attitude toward magic and astrology — Aristotle on stars and spirits — Folk-lore in the History of Animals — Differing modes of transmission of ancient . oriental and Greek literature — More magical character of directly trans- mitted Greek remains — Progress of science among the Greeks — Archi- medes and Aristotle — Exaggerated view of the scientific achievement of the Hellenistic age — Appendix I. Some works on Magic, Religion, and Astronomy in Babylonia and Assyria. "Magic has existed among all peoples and at every period." — Hegel} This book aims to treat the history of magic and expert- Aim of mental science and their relations to Christian thought dur- ^^'^ ^odk. ing the first thirteen centuries of our era, with especial emphasis upon the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. No * Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion ; quoted by Sir James Frazer, The Magic Art (1911), I, 426. 2 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. adequate survey of the history of either magic or experi- mental science exists for this period, and considerable use of manuscript material has been necessary for the medieval period. Magic is here understood in the broadest sense of the word, as including all occult arts and sciences, supersti- tions, and folk-lore. I shall endeavor to justify this use of the word from the sources as I proceed. My idea is that magic and experimental science have been connected in their development; that magicians were perhaps the first to experiment; and that the history of both magic and experimental science can be better understood by studying them together, I also desire to make clearer than it has been to most scholars the Latin learning of the medieval period, whose leading personalities even are generally inac- curately known, and on perhaps no one point is illumination more needed than on that covered by our investigation. The subject of laws against magic, popular practice of magic, the witchcraft delusion and persecution lie outside of the scope of this book.^ At first my plan was to limit this investigation to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the time of greatest medieval productivity, but I became convinced that this period could be best understood by viewing it in the setting of the Greek, Latin, and early Christian writers to whom it owed so much. If the student of the Byzantine Empire needs to know old Rome, the student of the medieval church to comprehend early Christianity, the student of Romance languages to understand Latin, still more must the reader of Constantinus Africanus, Vincent of Beauvais, Guide Bonatti, and Thomas Aquinas be familiar with the Pliny, Galen, and Ptolemy, the Origen and Augustine, the Alkindi and Albumasar from whom they drew. It would indeed be difficult to draw a line anywhere between them. The ancient *That field has already been soon to be edited by Professor treated by Joseph Hansen, Zau- George L. Burr from H. C. Lea's berwahn. Inquisition und Hexen- materials. See also a work just prozess im ISfittelalter, 1900, and published by Miss M. A. Murray, will be further illuminated by A The Witch-Cult in Western Eu' History of Witchcraft in Eurofie, rope, Oxford, 1921. 1 INTRODUCTION 3 authors are generally extant only in their medieval form; in some cases there is reason to suspect that they have undergone alteration or addition; sometimes new works were fathered upon them. In any case they have been pre- served to us because the middle ages studied and cherished them, and to a great extent made them their own. I begin with the first century of our era, because Christian thought begins then, and then appeared Pliny's Natural History which seems to me the best starting point of a survey of ancient science and magic, ^ I close with the thirteenth century, or, more strictly speaking, in the course of the four- teenth, because by then the medieval revival of learning had spent its force. Attention is centred on magic and experi- mental science in western Latin literature and learning, Greek and Arabic works being considered as they con- tributed thereto, and vernacular literature being omitted as either derived from Latin works or unlearned and unscien- tific. Very probably I have tried to cover too much ground How to and have made serious omissions. It is probably true that f^^^^ *^^- ^ -' . history of for the history of thought as for the history of art the evi- thought. dence and source material is more abundant than for politi- cal or economic history. But fortunately it is more reliable, since the pursuit of truth or beauty does not encourage deception and prejudice as does the pursuit of wealth or power. Also the history of thought is more unified and consistent, steadier and more regular, than the fluctuations and diversities of political history; and for this reason its general outlines can be discerned with reasonable sureness by the examination of even a limited number of examples, provided they are properly selected from a period of suf- ficient duration. Moreover, it seems to me that in the present stage of research into and knowledge of our subject ^ Some of my scientific friends a treatment of the science of the have urged me to begin with genuine Aristotle per se, although Aristotle, as being a much abler in the course of this book I shall scientist than Pliny, but this would say something of his medieval in- take us rather too far back in fluence and more especially of the time and I have not felt equal to Pseudo-Aristotle. 4 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. sounder conclusions and even more novel ones can be drawn by a wide comparative survey than by a minutely intensive and exhaustive study of one man or of a few years. The danger is of writing from too narrow a view-point, magni- fying unduly the importance of some one man or theory, and failing to evaluate the facts in their full historical setting. No medieval writer whether on science or magic can be understood by himself, but must be measured in respect to his surroundings and antecedents. Definition Some may think it strange that I associate magic so closely with the history of thought, but the word comes from the Magi or wise men of Persia or Babylon, to whose lore and practices the name was applied by the Greeks and Romans, or possibly we may trace its etymology a little farther back to the Sumerian or Turanian word imga or unga, meaning deep or profound. The exact meaning of the word, "magic," was a matter of much uncertainty even in classical and medieval times, as we shall see. There can be no doubt, however, that it was then applied not merely to an operative art, but also to a mass of ideas or doctrine, and that it represented a way of looking at the world. This side of magic has sometimes been lost sight of in hasty or assumed modern definitions which seem to regard magic as merely a collection of rites and feats. In the case of primi- tive men and savages it is possible that little thought accom- panies their actions. But until these acts are based upon or related to some imaginative, purposive, and rational thinking, the doings of early man cannot be distinguished as either religious or scientific or magical. Beavers build dams, birds build nests, ants excavate, but they have no magic just as they have no science or religion. Magic im- plies a mental state and so may be viewed from the stand- point of the history of thought. In process of time, as the learned and educated lost faith in magic, it was degraded to the low practices and beliefs of the ignorant and vulgar. It was this use of the term that was taken up by anthro- pologists and by them applied to analogous doings and INTRODUCTION notions of primitive men and savages. But we may go too far in regarding magic as a purely social product of tribal society : magicians may be, in Sir James Frazer's words,^ "the only professional class" among the lowest savages, but note that they rank as a learned profession from the start. It will be chiefly through the writings of learned men that something of their later history and of the growth of interest in experimental science will be traced in this work. Let me add that in this investigation all arts of divination, including astrology, will be reckoned as magic; I have been quite unable to separate the two either in fact or logic, as I shall illustrate repeatedly by particular cases." Magic is very old, and it will perhaps be well in this in- troductory chapter to present it to the reader, if not in its infancy — for its origins are much disputed and perhaps antecede all record and escape all observation — at least some centuries before its Roman and medieval days. Sir J. G. Frazer, in a passage of The Golden Bough to which we have already referred, remarks that "sorcerers are found in every savage tribe known to us; and among the lowest savages . . . they are the only professional class that exists." ^ Lenormant affirmed in his Chaldean Magic and Sorcery ^ that "all magic rests upon a system of religious belief," but recent sociologists and anthropologists have ^ Frazer has, of course, repeat- edly made the point that modern science is an outgrowth from primitive magic. Carveth Read, The Origin of Man, 1920, in his chapter on "Magic and Science" contends that "in no case ... is Science derived from Magic" (p. 337), but this is mainly a logical and ideal distinction, since he admits that "for ages" science "is in the hands of wizards." *_I am glad to see that other virriters on magic are taking this view ; for instance, E. Doutte, Magie et religion dans I'Afrique du Nord, Alger, 1909, p. 351. * Golden Bough, 1894, I. 420. W. I. Thomas, "The Relation of the Medicine-Man to the Origin of the Professional Occupations" (reprinted in his Source Book for Social Origins, 4th edition, pp. 281-303), in which he disputes Herbert Spencer's "thesis that the medicine-man is the source and origin of the learned and artistic occupations," does not really con- flict with Frazer's statement, since for Thomas the medicine-man is a priest rather than a magician. Thomas remarks later in the same book (p. 437), "Furthermore, the whole attempt of the savage to control the outside world, so far as it contained a theory or a doc- trine, was based on magic." * Chaldean Magic and Sorcery. 1878, p. 70. 6 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. inclined to regard magic as older than a belief in gods. At any rate some of the most primitive features of historical religions seem to have originated from magic. Moreover, religious cults, rites, and priesthoods are not the only things that have been declared inferior in antiquity to magic and largely indebted to it for their origins. Combarieu in his Music and Magic ^ asserts that the incantation is universally employed in all the circumstances of primitive life and that from it, by the medium it is true of religious poetry, all modern music has developed. The magic incantation is, in short, "the oldest fact in the history of civilization.'* Although the magician chants without thought of aesthetic form or an artistically appreciative audience, yet his spell contains in embryo all that later constitutes the art of music. ^ M. Paul Huvelin, after asserting with similar confidence that poetry,^ the plastic arts,* medicine, mathematics, astron- omy, and chemistry "have easily discernable magic sources," states that he will demonstrate that the same is true of law.*^ Very recently, however, there has been something of a reac- tion against this tendency to regard the life of primitive man as made up entirely of magic and to trace back every phase of civilization to a magical origin. But R. R. Marett still sees a higher standard of value in primitive man's magic than in his warfare and brutal exploitation of his fellows and believes that the "higher plane of experience for which mana stands is one in which spiritual enlargement is appre- ciated for its own sake." ^ Of the five classics included in the Confucian Canon, The Book of Changes (I Citing or Yi-King), regarded by ^ Jules Combarieu, La musigue Art, London, 1900, Chapter xx, et la magie, Paris, 1909, p. v. "Art and Magic." J. Capart, ^ Ibid., pp. 13-14. Primitive Art in Egypt. "Among the , early Arabs . p_ Huvelin, Magie et droit in- AT'^ M r^'^'f utterance ai^idud, Paris, 1907, in Annee (Macdonald (1909). p. 16), and Sociologique, X, v-i?^; see too the poet a wizard m league with ^.^ ^^/ /^^^^^^^^^ magiques et le spirits (Nicholson, A Uterary droit romain, Ukcon,iW History of the Arabs, 1914, p. 72). ' *Sce S. Reinach, "L'Art et la ' R. R. Marett, Psychology and Magie," in LAnthropologie, XIV Folk-Lore, 1920, Chapter iii on (1903), and Y. Hirn, Origins of "Primitive Values." I INTRODUCTION 7 some as the oldest work in Chinese literature and dated back as early as 3000 B.C., in its rudimentary form appears to have been a method of divination by means of eight possible combinations in triplets of a line and a broken line. Thus, if a be a line and h a broken line, we may have acui', bbb, aab, bba, abb, baa, aba, and bah. Possibly there is a connection with the use of knotted cords which, Chinese writers state, preceded written characters, like the method used in ancient Peru. More certain would seem the resem- blance to the medieval method of divination known as geomancy, which we shall encounter later in our Latin authors. Magic and astrology might, of course, be traced all through Chinese history and literature. But, contenting ourselves with this single example of the antiquity of such arts in the civilization of the far east, let us turn to other ancient cultures which had a closer and more unmistakable influence upon the western world. Of the ancient Egyptians Budge writes, "The belief in Magic in magic influenced their minds . . . from the earliest to the Egypt, latest period of their history ... in a manner which, at this stage in the history of the world, is very difficult to understand." -^ To the ordinary historical student the evi- dence for this assertion does not seem quite so overwhelm- ing as the Egyptologists would have us think. It looks thinner when we begin to spread it out over a stretch of four ^ E. A. Wallis Budge, Egyptian berspriiche fur Mutter und Kind, Magic, 1899, p. vii. Some other 1901. F. L. Griffith and H. works on magic in Egypt are: Thompson, The Demotic Magical Groff, Etudes sur la sorcellerie, Papyrus of London and Leiden, memoires presentes a I'institut 1904. See also J. H. Breasted, egyptien, Cairo, 1897; G. Busson, Development of Religion and Extrait d'un memoire sur fori- Thought in Ancient Egypt, New gine egyptienne de la Kabhale, in York, 1912. Compte Rendu du Congres Scien- The following later but briefer tiHque International des Catho- treatments add little to Budge: liques, Sciences Religieuses, Paris, Alfred Wiedemann, Magie und 1891, pp. 29-51. Adolf Erman, Life Zauberei im Alten ALgypten, Leip- w Ancient Egypt, English transla- zig, 1905, and Die Amulette der tion, 1894, "describes vividly the alten ^gyptcr, Leipzig, 1910, both magical conceptions and practices." in Der Alte Orient; Alexandre F. L. Griffith, Stories of the High Moret, La magic dans tEgypte Priests of Memphis, Oxford, 1900, ancienne, Paris, 1906, in Musee contains some amusing demotic Guimet, Annates, Bibliotheque de tales of magicians. Erman, Zau- vulgarisation. XX. 241-81. 8 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Magic and Egyptian religion. Mortuary magic. thousand years, and it scarcely seems scientific to adduce details from medieval Arabic tales or from the late Greek fiction of the Pseudo-Callisthenes or from papyri of the Christian era concerning the magic of early Egypt. And it may be questioned whether two stories preserved in the Westcar papyrus, written many centuries afterwards, are alone "sufficient to prove that already in the Fourth Dynasty the working of magic was a recognized art among the Egyptians." ^ At any rate we are told that the belief in magic not only was predynastic and prehistoric, but was "older in Egypt than the belief in God." ^ In the later religion of the Egyp- tians, along with more lofty and intellectual conceptions, magic was still a principal ingredient.^ Their mythology was affected by it * and they not only combated demons with magical formulae but believed that they could terrify and coerce the very gods by the same method, compelling them to appear, to violate the course of nature by miracles, or to admit the human soul to an equality with themselves.^ Magic was as essential in the future life as here on earth among the living. Many, if not most, of the observances and objects connected with embalming and burial had a magic purpose or mode of operation; for instance, the "magic eyes placed over the opening in the side of the body through which the embalmer removed the intestines," ® or the mannikins and models of houses buried with the dead. In the process of embalming the wrapping of each bandage was accompanied by the utterance of magic words. '^ In "the oldest chapter of human thought extant" — the Pyramid * Budge (1899), p. 19. At pp. 7- 10 Budge dates the Westcar Papy- rus about 1550 B. C. and Cheops, of whom the tale is told, in 3800 B. C. It is now customary to date the Fourth Dynasty, to which Cheops belonged, about 2900-2750 B. C. Breasted, History of Egypt, pp. 122-3, speaks of a folk tale preserved in the Papyrus Westcar some nine (?) centuries after the fall of the Fourth Dynasty. * Budge, p. ix. ° Budge, pp. xiii-xiv. * For magical myths see E. Na- ville, The Old Egyptian Faith, English translation by C. Camp- bell, 1909, p. 23;^ et seq. * Budge, pp. 3-4; Lenormant, Chaldean Magic, p. 100; Wiede- mann (1905), pp. 12, 14, 31- " So labelled in the Egyptian Museum at Cairo. 'Budge, p. 185. I INTRODUCTION 9 Texts written in hieroglyphic at the tombs at Sakkara of Pharaohs of the fifth and sixth dynasties (c, 2625-2475 B.C.), magic is so manifest that some have averred "that the whole body of Pyramid Texts is simply a collection of magical charms." ^ The scenes and objects painted on the walls of the tombs, such as those of nobles in the fifth and sixth dynasties, were employed with magic intent and were meant to be realized in the future life; and with the twelfth dynasty the Egyptians began to paint on the insides of the coffins the objects that were formerly actually placed within.^ Under the Empire the famous Book of the Dead is a collection of magic pictures, charms, and incantations for the use of the deceased in the hereafter,^ and while it is not of the early period, we hear that "a book with words of magic power" was buried with a pharaoh of the Old King- dom. Budge has "no doubt that the object of every reli- gious text ever written on tomb, stele, amulet, coffin, papy- rus, etc., was to bring the gods under the power of the de- ceased, so that he might be able to compel them to do his will." * Breasted, on the other hand, thinks that the amount and complexity of this mortuary magic increased greatly in the later period under popular and priestly influence.^ Breasted nevertheless believes that magic had played Magic in a great part in daily life throughout the whole course of dailyhfe. Egyptian history. He writes, "It is difficult for the modern mind to understand how completely the belief in magic pene- trated the whole substance of life, dominating popular cus- tom and constantly appearing in the simplest acts of the daily household routine, as much a matter of course as ^Breasted (1912), pp. 84-5, 93-5. Day," Breasted, History of Egypt, Systematic study" of the Pyra- p. 175. mid Texts has been possible "only *r> ^ o since the appearance of Sethe's cudge, p. 2S. great edition,"— DiV Altsgypti- ^History of Egypt, p. 175; pp. schen Pyramidentexte, Leipzig, 249-50 for the further increase in l5K)8-i9io, 2 vols. mortuary magic after the Middle ^ Budge, pp. 104-7. Kingdom, and pp. 369-70, 390, etc., Many of them are to enable for Ikhnaton's vain effort to sup- the dead man to leave his tomb at press this mortuary magic. See will; hence the Egyptian title, also Breasted (1912), pp. 95-6, 281. 'The Chapters of Going Forth by 292-6, etc. 10 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Power of words, images, amulets. Magit in Egyptian medicine. sleep or the preparation of food. It constituted the very atmosphere in which the men of the early oriental world lived. Without the saving and salutary influence of such magical agencies constantly invoked, the life of an ancient household in the East was unthinkable." ^ Most of the main features and varieties of magic known to us at other times and places appear somewhere in the course of Egypt's long history. For one thing we find the ascription of magic power to words and names. The power of words, says Budge, was thought to be practically un- limited, and "the Egyptians invoked their aid in the smallest as well as in the greatest events of their life." ^ Words might be spoken, in which case they "must be uttered in a proper tone of voice by a duly qualified man," or they might be written, in which case the material upon which they were written might be of importance.^ In speaking of mortuary magic we have already noted the employment of pictures, models, mannikins, and other images, figures, and objects. Wax figures were also used in sorcery,^ and amulets are found from the first, although their particular forms seem to have altered with dififerent periods.^ Scarabs are of course the most familiar example. Egyptian medicine was full of magic and ritual and its therapeusis consisted mainly of "collections of incan- tations and weird random mixtures of roots and refuse." ® Already we find the recipe and the occult virtue conceptions, the elaborate polypharmacy and the accompanying hocus- pocus which we shall meet in Pliny and the middle ages. The Egyptian doctors used herbs from other countries and preferred compound medicines containing a dozen ingredi- ents to simple medicines."^ Already we find such magic ^Breasted (1912), pp. 290-1. * Budge, pp. xi, 170-1. * Budge, p. 4. * Budge, pp. 67-70, yz, 77- ' Budge, pp. 27-28, 41, 60. ' From the abstract of a paper on The History of Egyptian Medi- cine, read by T. Wingate Todd at the annual meeting of the Ameri- can Historical Association, 1919. See also B. Holmes and P. G. Kitterman, Medicine in Ancient Egypt', the Hieratic Material, Cincinnati, 1914, 34 pp., reprinted from The Lancet-Clinic. ' See H. L. Liiring, Die Uber die medicinischcn Kenntnisse der al- ien Algypter berichtenden Papyri r INTRODUCTION ii log-Jc as that the hair of a black calf will keep one from growing gray.^ Already the parts of animals are a favorite ingredient in medical compounds, especially those connected with the organs of generation, on which account they were presumably looked upon as life-giving, or those which were recommended mainly by their nastiness and were probably thought to expel the demons of disease by their disagreeable properties. In ancient Egypt, however, disease seems not to have Demons been identified with possession by demons to the extent that disease, it was in ancient Assyria and Babylonia. While Breasted asserts that "disease was due to hostile spirits and against these only magic could avail," ^ Budge contents himself with the more cautious statement that there is "good reason for thinking that some diseases were attributed to . . . evil spirits . , . entering . . . human bodies . . . but the texts do not afford much information" ^ on this point. Certainly the beliefs in evil spirits and in magic do not always have to go together, and magic might be employed against disease whether or not it was ascribed to a demon. In the case of medicine as in that of religion Breasted Magic takes the view that the amount of magic became greater in science- the Middle and New Kingdoms than in the Old Kingdom. This is true so far as the amount of space occupied by it in extant records is concerned. But it would be rash to assume that this marks a decline from a more rational and scientific attitude in the Old Kingdom. Yet Breasted rather gives this impression when he writes concerning the Old Kingdom that many of its recipes were useful and rational, that "medicine was already in the possession of much empirical wisdom, displaying close and accurate observation," and that what "precluded any progress toward real science was the belief in magic, which later began to dominate all the verglichen mit den medic. Schrif- in Zeitschrift f. cegypt. Sprache, ten griech. u. romischer Autoren, XII (1874), p. 106. M. A. Ruffer, Leipzig, 1888. Also Joret, I Palaeopathology of Egypt, ig2i. (1897) 310-11, and the article ^History of Egypt, p. loi. there cited by G. Ebers, Ein Ky- ^ Ibid, p. 102. phirecept aus dem Papyrus Ebers, " Budge, p. 206. 12 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Magic and industry. Alchemy. practice of the physician." ^ Berthelot probably places the emphasis more correctly when he states that the later medical papyri "include traditional recipes, founded on an em- piricism which is not always correct, mystic remedies, based upon the most bizarre analogies, and magic practices that date back to the remotest antiquity." " The recent efforts of Sethe and Wilcken, of Elliot Smith, Miiller, and Hooten to show that the ancient Egyptians possessed a considerable amount of medical knowledge and of surgical and dental skill, have been held by Todd to rest on slight and dubious evidence. Indeed, some of this evidence seems rather to suggest the ritualistic practices still employed by uncivil- ized African tribes. Certainly the evidence for any real scientific development in ancient Egypt has been very meager compared with the abundant indications of the preva- lence of magic. ^ Early Egypt was the home of many arts and industries, but not in so advanced a stage as has sometimes been sug- gested. Blown glass, for example, was unknown until late Greek and Roman times, and the supposed glass-blowers depicted on the early monuments are really smiths engaged in stirring their fires by blowing through reeds tipped with clay.** On the other hand, Professor Breasted informs me that there is no basis for Berthelot's statement that "every sort of chemical process as well as medical treatment was executed with an accompaniment of religious formulae, of prayers and incantations, regarded as essential to the success of operations as well as the cure of maladies." ^ Alchemy perhaps originated on the one hand from the practices of Egyptian goldsmiths and workers in metals, who experimented with alloys,^ and on the other hand from *Petrie, "Egypt," in EB, p. 7Z- * Berthelot (1885), p. 235. See E. B. Havell, A Handbook of In- dian Art, 1920, p. II, for a com- bination of "exact science," ritual, and "magic power" in the work of the ancient Aryan craftsmen. 'Berthelot (1889), pp. vi-vii. ^History of Egypt, p. lOi. ' Archeologic et Hist aire des Sciences, Paris, 1906, pp. 232-3. * Professor Breasted, however, feels that the contents of the new Edwin Smith Papyrus will raise our estimate of the worth of Egyp- tian medicine and surgery : letter to me of Jan. 20, 1922. I INTRODUCTION 13 the theories of the Greek philosophers concerning world- grounds, first matter, and the elements.^ The words, alchemy and chemistry, are derived ultimately from the name of Egypt itself, Kamt or Qemt, meaning literally black, and applied to the Nile mud. The word was also applied to the black powder produced by quicksilver in Egyptian metallurgical processes. This powder. Budge says, was sup- posed to be the ground of all metals and to possess mar- velous virtue, "and was mystically identified with the body which Osiris possessed in the underworld, and both were thought to be sources of life and power." ^ The analogy to the sacrament of the mass and the marvelous powers ascribed to the host by medieval preachers like Stephen of Bourbon scarcely needs remark. The later writers on alchemy in Greek appear to have borrowed signs and phrase- ology from the Egyptian priests, and are fond of speaking of their art as the monopoly of Egyptian kings and priests who carved its secrets on ancient steles and obelisks. In a treatise dating from the twelfth dynasty a scribe recom- mends to his son a work entitled Chemi, but there is no proof that it was concerned with chemistry or alchemy.* The papyri containing treatises of alchemy are of the third century of the Christian era. Evidences of divination in general and of astrology in Divina- particular do not appear as early in Egyptian records as astrology, examples of other varieties of magic. Yet the early date at which Egypt had a calendar suggests astronomical inter- est, and even those who deny that seven planets were dis- tinguished in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley until the last millennium before Christ, admit that they were known in Egypt as far back as the Old Kingdom, although they deny the existence of a science of astronomy or an art of astrology then.^ A dream of Thotmes IV is preserved from 1450 B.C. or thereabouts, and the incantations employed by magicians 'Berthelot (1885), pp. 247-78; E. ''Berthelot (1885), p. 10. O.^v. Lippmann (1919), pp. 118-43. •• Lippmann C1919), pp. 181-2, Budge, pp. 19-20. and the authorities there cited. 14 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. in order to procure divining dreams for their customers attest the close connection of divination and magic.^ BeHef in lucky and unlucky days is shown in a papyrus calendar of about 1300 B.C.,^ and w^e shall see later that "Egyptian Days" continued to be a favorite superstition of the middle ages. Tables of the risings of stars which may have an astro- logical significance have been found in graves, and there were gods for every month, every day of the month, and every hour of the day,^ Such numbers as seven and twelve are fre- quently emphasized in the tombs and elsewhere, and if the vaulted ceiling in the tenth chamber of the tomb of Sethos is really of his time, we seem to find the signs of the zodiac under the nineteenth dynasty. If Boll is correct in suggest- ing that the zodiac originated in the transfer of animal gods to the sky,* no fitter place than Egypt could be found for the transfer. But there have not yet been discovered in Egypt lists of omens and appearances of constellations on days of disaster such as are found in the literature of the Tigris-Euphrates valley and in the Roman historians. Budge speaks of the seven Hathor goddesses who predict the death that the infant must some time die, and affirms that "the Egyptians believed that a man's fate . . . was decided be- fore he was born, and that he had no power to alter it." ^ But I cannot agree that "we have good reason for assigning the birthplace of the horoscope to Egypt," ® since the evidence seems to be limited to the almost medieval Pseudo-Callis- thenes and a Greek horoscope in the British Museum to which is attached the letter of an astrologer urging his pupil to study the ancient Egyptians carefully. The later Greek and Latin tradition that astrology was the invention of the divine men of Egypt and Babylon probably has a basis of fact, but more contemporary evidence is needed if Egypt is to contest the claim of Babylon to precedence in that art. ^ Budge, pp. 214-5. Annales du service des antiquites * Budge, pp. 225-8; Wiedemann dc I'Egyptc, I (1900), 79-90. (1905), p. g. *F. Boll in Neue Jahrb. (1908), •Wiedemann (1905), pp. 7,8,11. p. 108. See also G. Daressy, Une ancienne " Budge, pp. 222-3. liste des decans egyptiens, in " Budge, p. 229. INTRODUCTION 15 In the written remains of Babylonian and Assyrian civilization ^ the magic cuneiform tablets play a large part and give us the impression that fear of demons v^as a lead- ing feature of Assyrian and Babylonian religion and that daily thought and life were constantly affected by magic. The bulk of the religious and magical texts are preserved in the library of Assurbanipal, king of Assyria from 668 to 626 B.C. But he collected his library from the ancient temple cities, the scribes tell us that they are copying very ancient texts, and the Sumerian language is still largely employed.^ Eridu, one of the main centers of early Su- merian culture, "was an immemorial home of ancient wis- dom, that is to say, magic." ^ It is, however, difficult in the library of Assurbanipal to distinguish what is Baby- lonian from what is Assyrian or what is Sumerian from vvhat is .Semitic. Thus we are told that "with the exception of some very ancient texts, the Sumerian literature, con- sisting largely of religious material such as hymns and incantations, shows a number of Semitic loanwords and grammatical Semitisms, and in many cases, although not always, is quite patently a translation of Semitic ideas by Semitic priests into the formal religious Sumerian lan- guage." 4 The chief point in dispute, over which great controversy has taken place recently among German scholars, is as to the antiquity of both astronomical knowledge and astrologi- cal doctrine, including astral theology, among the dwellers in the Tigris-Euphrates region. Briefly, such writers as Winckler, Stiicken, and Jeremias held that the religion of the early Babylonians was largely based on astrology and that all their thought was permeated by it, and that they had probably by an early date made astronomical observa- tions and acquired astronomical knowledge which was lost * Some works on the subject of ^Thompson, Semitic Magic, pp. magic and religion, astronomy and xxxvi-xxxvii ; Fossey, pp. 17-20. astrology in Babylonia and ^ Farnell, Greece and Babylon, Assyria will be found in Appendix p. 102. I at the close of this chapter. ■* Prince, "Sumer and Sumeri- ans," in EB. The sources for Assyrian and Baby- lonian magic. Was astrology Sumerian or Chal- dean? i6 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. The num- ber seven in early Babylonia. in the decline of their culture. Opposing this view, such scholars as Kugler, Bezold, Boll, and Schiaparelli have shown the lack of certain evidence for either any consid- erable astronomical knowledge or astrological theory in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley until the late appearance of the Chaldeans. It is even denied that the seven planets were distinguished in the early period, much less the signs of the zodiac or the planetary week,^ which last, together with any real advance in astronomy, is reserved for the Hellenistic period. Yet the prominence of the number seven in myth, re- ligion, and magic is indisputable in the third millennium before our era. For instance, in the old Babylonian epic of creation there are seven winds, seven spirits of storms, seven evil diseases, seven divisions of the underworld closed by seven doors, seven zones of the upper world and sky, and so on. We are told, however, that the staged towers of Babylonia, which are said to have symbolized for millen- niums the sacred Hebdomad, did not always have seven stages.^ But the number seven was undoubtedly of frequent occurrence, of a sacred and mystic character, and virtue and perfection were ascribed to it. And no one has succeeded in giving any satisfactory explanation for this other than the rule of the seven planets over our world. This also applies to the sanctity of the number seven in the Old Testa- ment ^ and the emphasis upon it in Hesiod, the Odyssey, and other early Greek sources.^ anthrop. Gesellsch. in Wien, XXI (1901), 225-74; see also Hehn, Sieben::ahl und Sabbat bei den ^Webster, Rest Days, pp. 215-22, with further bibliography. See Orr (1913), 28-38, for an inter- esting discussion in English of the problem of the origin of solar and lunar zodiac. "Lippmann (1919), pp. 168-9. * Although Schiaparelli, Astron- omy in the Old Testament, 1905, PP- V, 5, 49-51. 135, denies that "the frequent use of the number seven in the Old Testament is in any way connected with the plan- ets." I have not seen F. von Andrian, Die Sicbenzahl im Geis- tesleben der Volker, in Mittcil. d. Babyloniern und im alien Testa- ment, 1907. J. G. Frazer (1918), I, 140, has an interesting passage on the prominence of the number seven "alike in the Jehovistic and in the Babylonian narrative" of the flood. * Webster, Rest Days, pp. 211-2. Professor Webster, who kindly read this chapter in manuscript, stated in a letter to me of 2 July 1921 that he remained convinced that "the mystic properties as- INTRODUCTION 17 However that may be, the tendency prevaiHng at present is to regard astrology as a relatively late development intro- duced by the Semitic Chaldeans. Lenormant held that writing and magic were a Turanian or Sumerian (Acca- dian) contribution to Babylonian civilization, but that astronomy and astrology were Semitic innovations. Jas- trow thinks that there was slight difference between the religion of Assyria and that of Babylonia, and that astral theology played a great part in both ; but he grants that the older incantation texts are less influenced by this astral theology. L. W. King says, "Magic and divination bulk largely in the texts recovered, and in their case there is noth- ing to suggest an underlying astrological element." ^ Whatever its date and origin, the magic literature may be classified in three main groups. There are the astrological texts in which the stars are looked upon as gods and pre- dictions are made especially for the king,^ Then there are the tablets connected with other methods of foretelling the future, especially liver divination, although interpretation of dreams, augury, and divination by mixing oil and water were also practiced.^ Fossey has further noted the close connection of operative magic with divination among the Assyrians, and calls divination "the indispensable auxiliary of magic." Many feats of magic imply a precedent knowl- edge of the future or begin by consultation of a diviner, or a favorable day and hour should be chosen for the magic rite.* Third, there are the collections of incantations, not how- ever those employed by the sorcerers, which were pre- cribed to the number seven" can only in part be accounted for by the seven planets ; "Our Ameri- can Indians, for example, hold seven in great respect, yet have no knowledge of seven planets." But it may be noted that the poet- philosophers of ancient Peru com- posed verses on the subject of as- trology, according to Garcilasso (cited by W. I. Thomas, Source Book for Social Origins, 1909, p. 293)- * L. W. King, History of Baby- lon, 1915, p. 299. ^Fossey (1902), pp. 2-3. ' Farnell, Greece and Babylon, pp. 301-2. On liver divination see Frothingham, "Ancient Oriental- ism Unveiled," American Journal of Archaeology, XXI (1917) 55, 187, 313, 420. * Fossey, p. 66. Incanta- tion texts older than the astro- logical. Other divination than astrology. i8 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Incanta- tions against sorcery and demons. A speci- men incan- tation. sumably illicit and hence not publicly preserved — in an incantation which we shall soon quote sorcery is called evil and is said to employ "impure things" — but rather defen- sive measures against them and exorcisms of evil demons.^ But doubtless this counter magic reflects the original pro- cedure to a great extent. Inasmuch as diseases generally were regarded as due to demons, who had to be exorcized by incantations, medicine was simply a branch of magic. Evil spirits were also held responsible for disturbances in nature, and frequent incantations were thought necessary to keep them from upsetting the natural order entirely.^ The various incantations are arranged in series of tablets : the Maklu or burning, Ti'i or headaches, Asakki marsuti or fever, Labartu or hag-demon, and Nis kati or raising of the hand. Besides these tablets there are numerous ceremonial and medical texts which contain magical practice.^ Also hymns of praise and religious epics which at first sight one would not classify as mcantations seem to have had their magical uses, and Farnell suggests that "a magic origin for the practice of theological exegesis may be obscurely traced." * Good spirits are represented as employing magic and exorcisms against the demons.^ As a last resort when good spirits as well as human magic had failed to check the demons, the aid might be requisitioned of the god Ea, re- garded as the repository of all science and who "alone was possessed of the magic secrets by means of which they could be conquered and repulsed." ^ The incantations themselves show that other factors than the power of words entered into the magic, as may be illus- trated by quoting one of them. "Arise ye great gods, hear my complaint. Grant me justice, take cognizance of my condition. I have made an image of my sorcerer and sorceress; ^Fossey, p. i6. * Greece and Babylon, p. 296. JLenormant, pp. 35. \f, }58. »Lenormant, pp. 146-7. Thompson, Semitic Magic, pp. ' ^^ ^ xxxviii-xxxix. ^ Ibid, p. 158. 1 INTRODUCTION 19 I have humbled myself before you and bring to you my cause, Because of the evil they have done, Of the impure things which they have handled. May she die ! Let me live ! May her charm, her witchcraft, her sorcery be broken. May the plucked sprig of the hinu tree purify me; May it release me; may the evil odor of my mouth be scattered to the winds. May the mashfakal herb which fills the earth cleanse me. Before you let me shine like the kankal herb, Let me be brilliant and pure as the lardn herb. The charm of the sorceress is evil; May her words return to her mouth, her tongue be cut off. Because of her witchcraft may the gods of night smite her, The three watches of the night break her evil charm. May her mouth be wax ; her tongue, honey. May the word causing my misfortune that she has spoken dissolve like wax. May the charm she had wound up melt like honey. So that her magic knot be cut in twain, her work de- stroyed." ^ It is evident from this incantation that use was made Materials of magic images and knots, and of the properties of trees and devices and herbs. Magic images were made of clay, wax, tallow, employed and other substances and were employed in various ways. *" *^^ . magic. Thus directions are given for making a tallow image of an enemy of the king and binding its face with a cord in order to deprive the person whom it represents of speech and will- power.^ Images were also constructed in order that disease demons might be magically transferred into them,^ and sometimes the images are slain and buried.^ In the above incantation the magic knot was employed only by the sor- ceress, but Fossey states that knots were also used as ^Jastrow, Religion of Babylon 'Ibid., p. 161. and Assyria, pp. 283-4. * Zimmern, Beitrdge, p. 173. * Fossey, p. 399. 20 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. counter-charms against the demons.^ In the above incan- tation the names of herbs were left untranslated and it is not possible to say much concerning the pharmacy of the Assyrians and Babylonians because of our lack of a lexicon for their botanical and mineralogical terminology.^ How- ever, from what scholars have been able to translate it appears that common rather than rare and outlandish sub- stances were the ones most employed. Wine and oil, salt and dates, and onions and saliva are the sort of things used. There is also evidence of the employment of a magic wand.^ Gems and animal substances were used as well as herbs ; all sorts of philters were concocted ; and varied rites and cere- monies were employed such as ablutions and fumigations. In the account of the ark of the Babylonian Noah we are told of the magic significance of its various parts; thus the mast and cabin ceiling were made of cedar, a wood that counteracts sorceries.* One remarkable corollary of the so-called Italian Renais- ?nr!\of' sance or Humanistic movement at the close of the middle mric'""" ^ges with its too exclusive glorification of ancient Greece "'^^'''' and Rome has been the strange notion that the ancient Hellenes were unusually free from magic compared with other periods and peoples. It would have been too much to claim any such immunity for the primitive Romans, whose entire religion was originally little else than magic and whose daily life, public and private, was hedged in by superstitious observances and fears. But they, too, were supposed to have risen later under the influence of Hellenic culture to a more enlightened stage,^ only to relapse again into magic in the declining empire and middle ages under oriental influence. Incidentally let me add that this notion that m the past orientals were more superstitious and fond of ^Fossey, p. 83. , form. 'Ibid., pp. 89-91. F. Kuchler, ^Lenormant, p. 190- Beitrdge sur Kenntnis dcr Assyr.- * Jbid n 159 Babyl. Median; Texte mit Urn- '',.,, a ;. f^nt^ th^f thev schrift, Uebersetzung und Kom- ' So enlightened in fact that they menU Leipzig, 1904. treats of spoke with some scorn of th twenty facsimile pages of cunei- "levity" and lies of the UrecKS. INTRODUCTION 21 marvels than westerners in the same stage of civilization and that the orient must needs be the source of every super- stitious cult and romantic tale is a glib assumption which I do not intend to make and which our subsequent investiga- tion will scarcely substantiate. But to return to the sup- posed immunity of the Hellenes from magic; so far has this hypothesis been carried that textual critics have repeatedly rejected passages as later interpolations or even called entire treatises spurious for no other reason than that they seemed to them too superstitious for a reputable classical author. Even so specialized and recent a student of ancient astrol- ogy, superstition, and religion as Cumont still clings to this dubious generalization and affirms that "the limpid Hellenic genius always turned away from the misty speculations of magic." ^ But, as I suggested some sixteen years since, "the fantasticalness of medieval science was due to 'the clear light of Hellas' as well as to the gloom of the 'dark ages, ^ It is not difficult to call to mind evidence of the presence of magic in Hellenic religion, literature, and history. One has only to think of the many marvelous metamorphoses in and Greek mythology and of its countless other absurdities; of "*^*°^y' the witches, Circe and Medea, and the necromancy of Odysseus ; or the priest-magician of Apollo in the Iliad who could stop the plague, if he wished ; of the lucky and unlucky days and other agricultural magic in Hesiod.^ Then there were the Spartans, whose so-called constitution and method of education, much admired by the Greek philosophers, were largely a retention of the life of the primitive tribe with its ritual and taboos. Or we remember Herodotus and his childish delight in ambiguous oracles or his tale of seceders from Gela brought back by Telines single-handed because he "was possessed of certain mysterious visible symbols of the powers beneath the earth which were deemed to be of ^ Oriental Religions in Roman ^ E. E. Sikes, Folk-lore in the Paganism, Chicago, 191 1, p. 189. Works and Days of Hesiod. in The Classical Review. VII (1893). ^Thorndike (1905), p. 63. 390. Magic in mytli, literature. 22 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Simul- taneous in- crease of learning and occult science. Magic ori- gin urged for Greek religion and drama. wonder-working power." ^ We recall Xenophon's punc- tilious records of sacrifices, divinations, sneezes, and dreams; Nicias, as afraid of eclipses as if he had been a Spartan; and the matter-of-fact mentions of charms, philters, and incan- tations in even such enlightened writers as Euripides and Plato. Among the titles of ancient Greek comedies magic is represented by the Goetes of Aristophanes, the Mandragorizomene of Alexis, the Pharmacomantis of An- axandrides, the Circe of Anaxilas, and the Thettcde of Menander.^ When we candidly estimate the significance of such evidence as this, we realize that the Hellenes were not much less inclined to magic than other peoples and periods, and that we need not wait for Theocritus and the Greek romances or for the magical papyri for proof of the existence of magic in ancient Greek civilization.^ If astrology and some other occult sciences do not appear in a developed form until the Hellenistic period, it is not because the earlier period was more enlightened, but because it was less learned. And the magic which Osthanes is said to have introduced to the Greek world about the time of the Persian wars was not so much an innovation as an improvement upon their coarse and ancient rites of Goetia.'^ This magic element which existed from the start in Greek culture is now being traced out by students of anthro- pology and early religion as well as of the classics. Miss Jane E. Harrison, in Themis, a study of the social origins of Greek religion, suggests a magical explanation for many a myth and festival, and even for the Olympic games and Greek drama.^ The last point has been developed in more ^ Freeman, History of Sicily, I, IOI-3, citing Herodotus VII, 153. ' Butler and Owen, Apulei Apologia, note on 30, 30. * For details concerning opera- tive or vulgar magic among the ancient Greeks see Hubert, Magia, in Daremberg-Saglio ; Abt, Die Apologie dcs Apulcius von Madaura und die antike Zau- berei, Giessen, 1908; and F. B. Jevons, "Grseco-Italian Magic," p. 93-, in Anthropology and the Classics, ed. R. Marett; and the article "Magic" in ERE. * I think that this sentence is an approximate quotation from some ancient author, possibly Diogenes Laertius, but I have not been able to find it. "J. E. Harrison, Themis, Cam- bridge, 1912. The chapter head- I INTRODUCTION 23 detail by F, M. Comford's Origin of Attic Comedy, where much magic is detected masquerading in the comedies of Aristophanes.^ And Mr. A. B. Cook sees the magician in Zeus, who transforms himself to pursue his amours, and contends that "the real prototype of the heavenly weather- king was the earthly" magician or rain-maker, that the pre-Homeric "fixed epithets" of Zeus retained in the Homeric poems "are simply redolent of the magician," and that the cult of Zeus Lykaios was connected with the belief in werwolves.^ In still more recent publications Dr. Rendel Harris ^ has connected Greek gods in their origins with the woodpecker and mistletoe, associated the cult of Apollo with the medicinal virtues of mice and snakes, and in other ways emphasized the importance in early Greek religion and culture of the magic properties of animals and herbs. These writers have probably pressed their point too far, but at least their work serves as a reaction against the old attitude of intellectual idolatry of the classics. Their views may be offset by those of Mr, Famell, who states that "while the knowledge of early Babylonian magic is begin- ning to be considerable, we cannot say that we know anything definite concerning the practices in this department of the Hellenic and adjacent peoples in the early period with which we are dealing." And again, "But while Baby- lonian magic proclaims itself loudly in the great religious literature and highest temple ritual, Greek magic is barely mentioned in the older literature of Greece, plays no part at all in the hymns, and can only with difficulty be dis- covered as latent in the higher ritual. Again, Babylonian ings briefly suggest the argument: on Ritual Forms preserved in "i. Hymn of the Kouretes ; 2. Greek tragedy; 9. Daimon to Dithyramb, Aqco|xevov, and Drama ; Olympian; 10. The Olympians; 3. Kouretes, Thunder-Rites and 11. Themis." Mana ; 4. a. Magic and Tabu, b. ^ F. M. Cornf ord, Origin of Medicine-bird and Medicine-king; Attic Comedy, 1914, see especially S. Totemism, Sacrament, and Sac- pp. 10, 13, 55, 157, 202, 22,2- rifice ; 6. Dithyramb, Spring Fes- ^ A. B. Cook, Zeus, Cambridge, tival, and Hagia Triada Sarcoph- 1914, pp. 134-5, 12-14, 66-76. agus ; 7. Origin of the Olympic ^ Rendel Harris, Picus who is Games (about a year-daimon) ; 8. also Zeus, 1916; The Ascent of Daimon and Hero, with Excursus Olympus, 1917. 24 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. magic is essentially demoniac ; but we have no evidence that the pre-Homeric Greek was demon-ridden, or that demon- ology and exorcism were leading factors in his consciousness and practice." Even Mr. Farnell admits, however, that "the earliest Hellene, as the later, was fully sensitive to the magico-divine efficacy of names." ^ Now to believe in the power of names before one believes in the existence of demons is the best possible evidence of the antiquity of magic in a society, since it indicates that the speaker has confidence in the operative power of his own words without any spiritual or divine assistance. Magic in Moreover, in one sense the advocates of Greek magic Greek phi- \^2JVQ. not gone far enough. They hold that magic lies back of the comedies of Aristophanes; what they might contend is that it was also contemporary with them.^ They hold that classical Greek religion had its origins in magic ; what they might argue is that Greek philosophy never freed itself from magic. "That Empedocles believed himself capable of magical powers is," says Zeller, "proved by his own writings." He himself "declares that he possesses the power to heal old age and sickness, to raise and calm the winds, to summon rain and drought, and to recall the dead to life." ^ H the pre-Homeric fixed epithets of Zeus are redolent of magic, Plato's Timaeus is equally redo- lent of occult science and astrology; and if we see the weather-making magician in the Olympian Zeus of Phidias, we cannot explain away the vagaries of the Timaeus as flights of poetic imagination or try to make out Aristotle a modern scientist by mutilating the text of the History of Animals. ' Farnell, Greece and Babylon, Ancients, in Folk-lore, 1890, and pp. 292, lyS-g. E. H. Klatsche, The Supernatural ' See Ernest Riess, Superstitions in the Tragedies of Euripides, in and Popular Beliefs in Greek University of Nebraska Studies, Tragedy, in Transactions of the 1919. American Philological Associa- ' See Zeller, Pre-Socratic Phi- tion, vol. 27 (1896), pp. 5-34; and losophy, II (1881), 119-20, for fur- On Ancient superstition, ibid. 26 ther boasts by Empedocles himself (1895), 40-55. Also J. G. Frazer, and other marvels attributed to Some Popular Superstitions of the him by later authors. I INTRODUCTION 25 Toward magic so-called Plato's attitude in his Laws is Plato's cautious. He maintains that medical men and prophets and ^ttitude diviners can alone understand the nature of poisons (or magic and spells) which work naturally, and of such things as incan- ^^^^^ °^^* tations, magic knots, and wax images; and that since other men have no certain knowledge of such matters, they ought not to fear but to despise them. He admits nevertheless that there is no use in trying to convince most men of this and that it is necessary to legislate against sorcery.^ Yet his own view of nature seems impregnated, if not actually with doctrines borrowed from the Magi of the east, at least with notions cognate to those of magic rather than of modern science and with doctrines favorable to astrology. He humanized material objects and confused material and spiritual characteristics. He also, like authors of whom we shall treat later, attempted to give a natural or rational explanation for magic, accounting, for example, for liver divination on the ground that the liver was a sort of mirror on which the thoughts of the mind fell and in which the images of the soul were reflected ; but that they ceased after death.^ He spoke of harmonious love between the elements as the source of health and plenty for vegetation, beasts, and men, and their "wanton love" as the cause of pestilence and disease. To understand both varieties of love "in rela- tion to the revolutions of the heavenly bodies and the seasons of the year is termed astronomy," ^ or, as we should say, astrology, whose fundamental law is the control of inferior creation by the motion of the stars. Plato spoke of the stars as "divine and eternal animals, ever abiding," * an expression which we shall hear reiterated in the middle ages. "The lower gods," whom he largely identified with the heavenly bodies, form men, who, if they live good lives, return after death each to a happy existence in his proper star.^ Such a doctrine is not identical with that of nativities ^Laws, XI, 933 (Steph.). * Timaeus, p. 40 (Steph.) ; Jow- 'Timacus, p. 71 (Steph.). ett, III, 459. 'Symposium, p. 188 (Steph.) ; in Jowett's translation, I, 558. ^ Ibid., pp. 41-42 (Steph.). 26 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Aristotle on stars and spirits. Folk-lore in the History of Animals. and the horoscope, but hke it exalts the importance of the stars and suggests their control of human life. And when at the close of his Republic Plato speaks of the harmony or music of the spheres of the seven planets and the eighth sphere of the fixed stars, and of "the spindle of Necessity on which all the revolutions turn," he suggests that when once the human soul has entered upon this life, its destiny is henceforth subject to the courses of the stars. When in the Timaeiis he says, "There is no difficulty in seeing that the perfect number of time fulfills the perfect year when all the eight revolutions . . . are accomplished together and attain their completion at the same time," ^ he seems to suggest the astrological doctrine of the magnns annus, that history begins to repeat itself in every detail when the heavenly bodies have all regained their original positions. For Aristotle, too, the stars were "beings of superhuman intelligence, incorporate deities. They appeared to him as the purer forms, those more like the deity, and from them a purposive rational influence upon the lower life of the earth seemed to proceed, — a thought which became the root of medieval astrology." ^ Moreover, "his theory of the subordinate gods of the spheres of the planets . . . pro- vided for a later demonology." ^ Aside from bits of physiognomy and of Pythagorean superstition, or mysticism, Aristotle's History of Animals contains much on the influence of the stars on animal life, the medicines employed by animals, and their friendships and enmities, and other folklore and pseudo-science.* But ^ Timaeus, p. 39 (Steph.) ; Jowett, III, 458. 'W. Windelband, History of Philosophy, English translation by J. H. Tufts, 1898, p. 147. 'Windelband, History of An- cient Philosophy, English transla- tion by H. E. Cushman, 1899. ■Tor a number of examples, which might be considerably mul- tiplied if books VII-X are not rejected as spurious, see Thorn- dike (1905), pp. 62-3. T. E. Lones, Aristotle's Researches in Natural Science, London, 1912, 274 pp., discusses "Aristotle's method of investigating the natu- ral sciences," and a large number of Aristotle's specific statements showing whether they were cor- rect or incorrect. The best trans- lation of the History of Animals is by D'Arcy W. Thompson, Ox- ford 1910, with valuable notes. 1 INTRODUCTION 27 the oldest extant manuscript of that work dates only from the twelfth or thirteenth century and lacks the tenth book. Editors of the text have also rejected books seven and nine, the latter part of book eight, and have questioned various other passages. However, these expurgations save the face of Aristotle rather than of Hellenic science or philosophy generally, as the spurious seventh book is held to be drawn largely from Hippocratic writings and the ninth from Theophrastus.^ There is another point to be kept in mind in any com- Differing parison of Egypt and Babylon or Assyria with Greece in "lodes the matter of magic. Our evidence proving the great part mission of played by magic in the ancient oriental civilizations comes oriemal directly from them to us without intervening tampering or and Greek • -1 r 1 1 • 1 T^ literature. alteration except m the case of the early periods. But classical literature and philosophy come to us as edited by Alexandrian librarians ^ and philologers, as censored and selected by Christian and Byzantine readers, as copied or translated by medieval monks and Italian humanists. And the question is not merely, what have they added ? but also, what have they altered? what have they rejected? Instead of questioning superstitious passages in extant works on the ground that they are later interpolations, it would very likely be more to the point to insert a goodly number on the ground that they have been omitted as pagan or idola- trous superstitions. Suppose we turn to those writings which have been j^Qj-e unearthed just as they were in ancient Greek; to the papyri, i^agical the lead tablets, the so-called Gnostic gems. How does the of directly proportion of magic in these compare with that in the Qreek"'^^^^ indirectly transmitted literary remains? If it is objected remains. that the magic papyri ^ are mainly of late date and that * See the edition of the History the Hbrary of Assurbanipal. of Animals by Dittmeyer (1907), 'A list of magic papyri and of p. vii, where various monographs publications up to about 1900 deal- will be found mentioned. ing with the same is given in ^ Perhaps pure literature was Hubert's article on Magia in over-emphasized in the Museum Daremberg-Saglio, pp. 1503-4. See at Alexandria, and magic texts in also Sir Herbert Thompson and 28 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. they are found in Egypt, it may be replied that they are as old as or older than any other manuscripts we have of classical literature and that its chief store-house, too, was in Egypt at Alexandria, As for the magical curses written on lead tablets,^ they date from the fourth centur}' before our era to the sixth after, and fourteen come from Athens and sixteen from Cnidus as against one from Alexandria and eleven from Carthage. And although some display extreme illiteracy, others are written by persons of rank and education. And what a wealth of astrological manu- scripts in the Greek language has been unearthed in Euro- pean libraries by the editors of the Catalogus Codicum Graecoriini Astrologorum! ^ And occasionally archaeolo- gists report the discovery of magical apparatus ^ or of repre- sentations of magic in works of art. Progress In thus contending that Hellenic culture was not free among"he from magic and that even the philosophy and science of the Greeks. ancient Greeks show traces of superstition, I would not, how- ever, obscure the fact that of extant literary remains the Greek are the first to present us with any very considerable body either of systematic rational speculation or of classified collection of observed facts concerning nature. Despite the rapid progress in recent years in knowledge of prehistoric man and Egyptian and Babylonian civilization, the Hellenic F. L. Griffith, The Magical De- lent, Defixionum tabulae, etc., motic Papyrus of London and Paris, 1904, 568 pp. R. Wiinsch, Leiden, 3 vols., 1909-1921; Cata- Defixionum Tabcllae Atficae, iSgy, logue of Demotic Papyri in the and Scthianische I'crfiuchungsta- Jolin Rylands Library, Manch^s- feln aus Rom (390-420 A.D.), ter, zvitii facsimiles and complete Leipzig, 1898. translations, 1909, 3 vols. Grenfell ,„• or. • 1 (1921), p. 159, says, "A corpus of Since 1898 various volumes the magical papyri was projected ^"^ ^^l^.^ have appeared under the in Germany by K. Preisendanz ^ditorship of Cuinont Kroll Boll, before the war, and a Czech Ohvieri. Bassi and others Much scholar, Dr. Hopfner, is engaged ^^ ^he material noted is of course upon the difficult task of eluci- POst-classical and Byzantine, and dating them " °^ Christian authorship or Ara- ' W. C. Battle, Magical Curses ^'^ °"Sin. Written on Lead Tablets, in ' For example, see R. Wiinsch, Transactions of the American Antikcs Zaubergcrdt aus Per- Philological Association, XXVI gamou, in Jahrb. d. kaiserl. (1895), pp. liv-lviii, a synopsis of deutsch. archccol. Instit., suppl. VI a Harvard dissertation. Audol- (1905), p. 19. I INTRODUCTION 29 title to the primacy in philosophy and science has hardly been called in question, and no earlier works have been discovered that can compare in medicine with those ascribed to Hippocrates, in biology with those of Aristotle and Theophrastus, or in mathematics and physics with those of Euclid and Archimedes. Undoubtedly such men and writ- ings had their predecessors, probably they owed something to ancient oriental civilization, but, taking them as we have them, they seem to be marked by great original power. Whatever may lie concealed beneath the surface of the past, or whatever signs or hints of scientific investigation and knowledge we may think we can detect and read between the lines, as it were, in other phases of older civilizations, in these works solid beginnings of experimental and mathe- matical science stand unmistakably forth. "An extraordinarily large proportion of the subject Archime- matter of the writings of Archimedes," says Heath, "repre- Aristotle sents entirely new discoveries of his own. Though his range of subjects was almost encyclopaedic, embracing geometry (plane and solid), arithmetic, mechanics, hydro- statics and astronomy, he was no compiler, no writer of text-books. . . . His objective is always some new thing, some definite addition to the sum of knowledge, and his com- plete originality cannot fail to strike anyone who reads his works intelligently, without any corroborative evidence such as is found in the introductory letters prefixed to most of them. ... In some of his subjects Archimedes had no fore- runners, e. g., in hydrostatics, where he invented the whole science, and (so far as mathematical demonstration was concerned) in his mechanical investigations." ^ Aristotle's History of Animals is still highly esteemed by historians of biology ^ and often evidences "a large amount of personal ^T. L. Heath, The Works of Aristotle's Researches in Natural Archimedes, Cambridge, 1897, pp. Science, London, 1912. Professor xxxix-xl. W. A. Locy, author of Biology ^ On "Aristotle as a Biologist" and Its Makers, writes me (May- see the Herbert Spencer lecture by 9, 1921) that in his opinion G. H. D'Arcy W. Thompson, Oxford, Lewes, Aristotle; a Chapter from 1913. 31 pp. Also T. E. Lones, the History of Science, London, 30 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Exagger- ated view of the scientific achieve- ment of the Hellen- istic age. observations," ^ "great accuracy," and "minute inquiry," as in his account of the vascular system ^ or observations on the embryology of the chick.^ "Most wonderful of all, perhaps, are those portions of his book in which he speaks of fishes, their diversities, their structure, their wanderings, and their food. Here we may read of fishes that have only recently been rediscovered, of structures only lately reinves- tigated, of habits only of late made known." ^ But of the achievements of Hellenic philosophy and Hellenistic science the reader may be safely assumed already to have some notion. But in closing this brief preliminary sketch of the period before our investigation proper begins, I would take excep- tion to the tendency, prevalent especially among German scholars, to center in and confine to Aristotle and the Hellenistic age almost all progress in natural science made before modern times. The contributions of the Egyptians and Babylonians are reduced to a minimum on the one hand, while on the other the scientific writings of the Roman 1864, "dwells too much on Aris- totle's errors and imperfections, and in several instances omits the quotation of important positive observations, occurring in the chapters from which he makes his quotations of errors." Professor Locy also disagrees with Lewes' estimate of De generatione as Aristotle's masterpiece and thinks that "naturalists will get more satisfaction out of reading the Historia animalium" than either the De generatione or De partihus. Thompson (1913), p. 14, calls Aristotle "a very great naturalist." ^ This quotation is from Pro- fessor Locy's letter of May 9, 192 1. ^ The quotations are from a note by Professor D'Arcy W. Thomp- son on his translation of the Historia animalium, III, 3. The note gives so good a glimpse of both the merits and defects of the Aristotelian text as it has reached us that I will quote it here more fully: "The Aristotelian account of the vascular system is remarkable for its wealth of details, for its great accuracy in many particulars, and for its extreme obscurity in others. It is so far true to nature that it is clear evidence of minute in- quiry, but here and there so remote from fact as to suggest that things once seen have been half forgotten, or that supersti- tion was in conflict with the result of observation. The account of the vessels connecting the left arm with the liver and the right with the spleen ... is a surviving ex- ample of mystical or superstitious belief. It is possible that the ascription of three chambers to the heart was also influenced by tradition or mysticism, much in the same way as Plato's notion of the three corporeal faculties." * Professor Locy called my at- tention to it in a letter of May 17, 1921. See also Thompson (1913), p. 14. * Thompson (1913), p. 19. I INTRODUCTION 31 Empire, which are extant in far greater abundance than those of the Hellenistic period, are regarded as inferior imita- tions of great authors whose works are not extant; Posi- donius, for example, to whom it has been the fashion of the writers of German dissertations to attribute this, that, and every theory in later writers. But it is contrary to the law of gradual and painful acquisition of scientific knowledge and improvement of scientific method that one period of a few centuries should thus have discovered everything. We have disputed the similar notion of a golden age of early Egyptian science from which the Middle and New King- doms declined, and have not held that either the Egyptians or Babylonians had made great advances in science before the Greeks. But that is not saying that they had not made some advance. As Professor Karpinski has recently written: "To deny to Babylon, to Egypt, and to India, their part in the development of science and scientific thinking is to defy the testimony of the ancients, supported by the dis- coveries of the modern authorities. The efforts which have been made to ascribe to Greek influence the science of Egypt, of later Babylon, of India, and that of the Arabs do not add to the glory that was Greece. How could the Baby- lonians of the golden age of Greece or the Hindus, a little later, have taken over the developments of Greek astron- omy? This would only have been possible if they had arrived at a state of development in astronomy which would have enabled them properly to estimate and appreciate the work which was to be absorbed. . . . The admission that the Greek astronomy immediately affected the astronomical theories of India carries with it the implication that this science had attained somewhat the same level in India as in Greece. Without serious questioning we may assume that a fundamental part of the science of Babylon and Egypt and India, developed during the times which we think of as Greek, was indigenous science." ^ *L. C. Karpinski, "Hindu Science," in The American Mathematical Monthly, XXVI (1919), 298-300. 32 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap, i Nor am I ready to admit that the great scientists of the early Roman Empire merely copied from, or were distinctly inferior to, their Hellenistic predecessors. Aristarchus may have held the heliocentric theory ^ but Ptolemy must have been an abler scientist and have supported his incorrect hypothesis with more accurate measurements and calcula- tions or the ancients would have adopted the sounder view. And if Herophilus had really demonstrated the circulation of the blood, so keen an intelligence as Galen's would not have cast his discovery aside. And if Ptolemy copied Hipparchus, are we to imagine that Hipparchus copied from no one? But of the incessant tradition from authority to authority and yet of the gradual accumulation of new matter from personal observation and experience our ensuing sur- vey of thirteen centuries of thought and writing will afford more detailed illustration. * Sir Thomas Heath, Aristar- the fixed stars remain unmoved chus of Samos, the Ancient and that the earth revolves round Copernicus: a history of Greek the sun in the circumference of a astronomy to Aristarchus to- circle." Such evidence seems gether with Aristarchus's treatise, scarcely to warrant applying the "On the Sizes and Distances of title of "The Ancient Copernicus" the Sun and Moon," a new Greek to Aristarchus. And Heath text with translation and notes, thinks that Schiaparelli (/ precur- Oxford, 1913, admits that "our sori di Copernico nell' antichita, treatise does not contain any sug- and other papers) went too far gestion of any but the geocentric in ascribing the Copernican hy- view of the universe, whereas pothesis to Heraclides of Pontus. Archimedes tells us that Aristar- On Aristotle's answer to Pythag- chus wrote a book of hypotheses, oreans who denied the geocentric one of which was that the sun and theory see Orr (1913), pp. 100-2. APPENDIX I SOME WORKS ON MAGIC, RELIGION, AND ASTRONOMY IN BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA The following books deal expressly with the magic of Assyria and Babylonia : Fossey, C. La magie assyrienne; etude suivie de textes magiques, Paris, 1902. King, L. W. Babylonian Magic and Sorcery, being "The Prayers of the Lifting of the Hand," London, 1896. Laurent, A. La magie et la divination chez les Chaldeo-Assyr- iens, Paris, 1894. Lenormant, F, Chaldean Magic and Sorcery, English transla- tion, London, 1878. Schwab, M., in Proc. Bibl. Archaeology (1890), pp. 292-342, on magic bowls from Assyria and Babylonia. Tallquist, K. L. Die Assyrische Beschworungsserie Maqlu, Leip- zig, 1895- Thompson, R. C. The Reports of the Magicians and Astrologers of Nineveh and Babylon in the British Museum, London, 1900. Texts and translations — all but three are astrological. The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia, London, 1904. Semitic Magic, London, 1908. Weber, O. Damonenbeschworung bei den Babyloniern und As- sy rern, 1906. Eine Skizze (37 pp.), in Der Alte Orient. Zimmern. Die Beschwdrungstafeln Surpu. Much concerning magic will also be found in works on Babylonian and Assyrian religion. Craig, J. A. Assyrian and Babylonian Religious Texts, Leipzig, 1895-7. Curtiss, S. L Primitive Semitic Religion Today, 1902. Dhorme, P. Choix des textes religieux Assyriens Babyloniens, 1907. La religion Assyro-Babylonienne, Paris, 1910. Gray, C. D. The Samas Religious Texts. 33 34 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE Jastrow, Morris, The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, Boston, 1898. Revised and enlarged as Religion Babyloniens und As- syriens, Giessen, 1904. Jeremias. Babylon. Assyr. Vorstellungen von dem Leben nach Tode, Leipzig, 1887. Holle und Paradies, and other w^orks. Knudtzon, J. A. Assyrische Gebete an den Sonnengott, Leipzig, 1893. Lagrange, M. J. £tudes sur les religions semitiques, Paris, 1905. Langdon, S, Sumerian and Babylonian Psalms, Paris, 1909. Reisner, G. A. Sumerisch-Babylonische Hymnen, Berlin, 1896. Robertson Smith, W. Lectures on the Religion of the Semites, London, 1907. Roscher, Lexicon, for various articles. Zimmern. Babylonische Hymnen und Gebete in Auswahl, 32 pp., 1905 (Der Alte Orient). Beitrage zur Kenntniss der Babyl. Religion, Leipzig, 1901. On the astronomy and astrology of the Babylonians one may consult: Bezold, C. Astronomic, Himmelschau und Astrallehre bei den Babyloniern. (Sitzb. Akad. Heidelberg, 191 1, Abh. 2). Boissier. A. Documents assyriens relatifs aux presages, Paris, I 894- I 897. Choix de textes relatifs a la divination assyro-babylonienne, Geneva, 1905-1906. Craig, J. A. Astrological-Astronomical Texts, Leipzig, 1892. Cumont, F. Babylon und die griechische Astrologie. (Neue Jahrb. fiir das klass. Altertum, XXVH, 1911). Epping, J., and Strassmeier, J. N. Astronomisches aus Babylon, 1889. Ginzel, F. K. Die astronomischen Kentnisse der Babylonier, 1901. Hehn, J. Siebenzahl und Sabbat bei den Babyloniern und im Alten Testament, 1907. Jensen, P. Kosmologie der Babylonier, 1890, Jeremias. Das Alter der babylonischen Astronomic, 1908. Handbuch der altorientalischen Geisteskultur, 1913. Kugler, F. X. Die Babylonische Mondrechnung, 1900. Sternkunde und Sterndienst in Babel, Freiburg, 1907-1913. To be completed in four vols. Im Bannkreis Babels, 1910. Oppert, J. Die astronomischen Angaben der assyrischen Keilin- APPENDIX I 35 schriften, in Sitzb. d. Wien. Akad. Math.-Nat. Classe, 1885, pp. 894-906. Un texte Babylonien astronomique et sa traduction grecque par CI. Ptolemee, in Zeitsch. f. Assyriol. VI (1891), pp. 103-23. Sayce, A. H. The astronomy and astrology of the Babylonians, with translations of the tablets relating to the subject, in Trans- actions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, III (1874), 145- 339; the first and until recently the best guide to the subject. Schiaparelli, G. V. I Primordi ed i Progress! dell' Astronomia presso i Babilonesi, Bologna, 1908. Astronomy in the Old Testament, 1905. Stiicken, Astralmythen, 1896-1907. Virolleaud, Ch. L'Astrologie chaldeenne, Paris, 1905- ; to be completed in eight parts, texts and translations. Winckler, Himmels- und Weltenbild der Babylonier als Grundlage der Weltanschauung und Mythologie aller Volker, in Der alte Orient, III, 2-3. BOOK I. THE ROMAN EMPIRE Foreword. Chapter 2. Pliny's Natural History. I. Its place in the history of science. II. Its experimental tendency. III. Pliny's account of magic. IV. The science of the Magi. V. Pliny's magical science. " 3. Seneca and Ptolemy : Natural Divination and Astrology. " 4. Galen. I. The man and his times. II. His medicine and experimental science. III. His attitude toward magic. " 5. Ancient Applied Science and Magic. " 6. Plutarch's Essays. " 7. Apuleius of Madaura. " 8. Philostratus's Life of Apollonius of Tyana. " 9. Literary and Philosophical Attacks upon Superstition. " 10. The Spurious Mystic Writings of Hermes, Orpheus, and Zoroaster. " II. Neo-Platonism and its Relations to Astrology and Theurgy. ** 12. Aelian, Solinus, and Horapollo. 37 BOOK I. THE ROMAN EMPIRE FOREWORD A TRIO of great names, Pliny, Galen, and Ptolemy, stand out A trio of above all others in the history of science under the Roman names. Empire. In the use or criticism which they make of earlier writers and investigators they are also our chief sources for the science of the preceding Hellenistic period. By their voluminousness, their generous scope in ground covered, and their broad, liberal, personal outlooks, they have painted, in colors for the most part imperishable, extensive canvasses of the scientific spirit and acquisitions of their own time. Pliny pursued politics and literature as well as natural sci- ence; Ptolemy was at once mathematician, astronomer, physicist, and geographer; Galen knew philosophy as well as medicine. The two latter men, moreover, made original contributions of their own of the very first order to scientific knowledge and method. It is characteristic of the homo- geneous and widespread culture of the Roman Empire that these three representatives of different, although overlap- ping, fields of science were natives of the three continents that enclose the Mediterranean Sea. Pliny was bom at Como where Italy verges on transalpine lands ; Ptolemy, born some- where in Egypt, did his work at Alexandria; Galen came from Pergamum in Asia Minor. Finally, these men were, after Aristotle, the three ancient scientists who directly or indirectly most powerfully influenced the middle ages. Thus they illuminate past, present, and future. We shall therefore open the present section of our in- plan of vestigation by considering in turn chronologically, Pliny, Ptolemy, and Galen, coupling, however, with our considera- tion of Ptolemy the work of Seneca on Natural Questions 39 this section. 40 FOREWORD which shows the same combination of natural science and natural divination. Next we shall consider some representa- tives of ancient applied science and its relations to magic, and the more miscellaneous writings of Plutarch, Apuleius, and Philostratus's Life of Apollonius of Tyana. From the hos- pitable attitude toward magic and occult science displayed by these last writers we sha'' then turn back again to consider some examples of literary and philosophical attacks upon superstition, before proceeding lastly to spurious mystic writings of the Roman Empire, Neo-Platonism and its re- lations to astrology and theurgy, and the works of Aelian, Solinus, and Horapollo. CHAPTER II pliny's natural history I, Its Place in the History of Science Its importance in our investigation — As a collection of miscellaneous information — As a repository of ancient natural science — As a source for magic — Pliny's career — His writings — His own description of the Natural History — His devotion to science — Conflict of science and religion — Pliny not a trained naturalist — His use of authorities — His lack of arrangement and classification — His scepticism and credulity — A guide to ancient science — His medieval influence — Early printed editions. II. Its Experimental Tendency Importance of observation and experience — Use of the word experi- mentum — Experiments due to scientific curiosity — Medical experimenta- tion— Chance experience and divine revelation — Marvels proved by experience. III. Pliny's Account of Magic Oriental origin of magic — Its spread to the Greeks — Its spread out- side the Graeco-Roman world — Failure to understand its true origin — Magic and divination — Magic and religion — Magic and medicine — Magic and philosophy — Falseness of magic — Crimes of magic — Pliny's censure of magic is mainly intellectual — Vagueness of Pliny's scepticism — Magic and science indistinguishable. IV. The Sf-ience of the Magi Magicians as investigators of nature — The Magi on herbs — Marvel- ous virtues of herbs — Animals and parts of animals — Further instances — Magic rites with animals and parts of animals — Marvels wrought with parts of animals — The Magi on stones — Other magical recipe* — Summary of the statements of the Magi. V. Pliny's Magical Science From the Magi to Pliny's magic — Habits of animals — Remedies dis- covered by animals — Jealousy of animals — Occult virtues of animals — The virtues of herbs— Plucking herbs — Agricultural magic— Virtue of stones — Other minerals and metals — Virtues of human parts— Virtues 41 42 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. of human saliva— The human operator— Absence of medical compounds — Sympathetic magic — Antipathies between animals — Love and hatred between inanimate objects — Sympathy between animate and inanimate objects— Like cures like— The principle of association — Magic transfer of disease— Amulets— Position or direction— The time element— Ob- servance of number — Relation between operator and patient — Incanta- tions— Attitude towards love-charms and birth control — Pliny and astrology — Celestial portents — The stars and the world of nature — Astrological medicine — Conclusion : magic unity of Pliny's superstitions. ''Salve, parens rerum omnium Natura, teque nobis Quiritium solis celehratam esse numeris omnibus tuis fave!" — Closing words of the Natural History} I. Its Place in the History of Science We should have to search long before finding a better start- ing-point for the consideration of the union of magic with the science of the Roman Empire, and of the way in which that union influenced the middle ages, than Pliny's Natural History} The foregoing sentence, with which years ago I opened a chapter on the Natural History of Pliny the Elder in my briefer preliminary study of magic in the intel- lectual history of the Roman Empire, seems as true as ever; and although I there considered his confusion of magic and science at some length, I do not see how I can make the present work well-rounded and complete without including in it a yet more detailed analysis of the contents of Pliny's book. Pliny's Natural History, which appeared about yy A. D. and is dedicated to the Emperor Titus, is perhaps the most which is superior to both the Ger- man editions in its explanatory notes and subject index, and which also apparently antedates them in some readings suggested for doubtful passages in the text. Three modes of dividing the Natural History into chapters are indicated in the editions of Janus and Detlefsen. I shall employ that found in the earlier editions of Hardouin, Valpy, Lemaire, and Ajasson, and preferred in the English translation of Bostock and Riley. * "Farewell, Nature, parent of all things, and in thy manifold multiplicity bless me who, alone of the Romans, has sung thy praise." ' For the Latin text of the Naturalis Historia I have used the editions of D. Detlefsen, Berlin, 1866-1882, and L. Janus, Leipzig, 1870, 6 vols, in 3 ; 5 vols, in 3. There is, however, a good English translation of the Natural History, with an introductory essay, by J. Bostock and H. T. Riley, Lon- don, 1855, 6 vols. (Bohn Library), II PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY 43 important single source extant for the history of ancient civilization. Its thirty-seven books, written in a very com- pact style, constitute a vast collection of the most miscel- laneous information. Whether one is investigating ancient painting, sculpture, and other fine arts ; or the geography of the Roman Empire; or Roman triumphs, gladiatorial con- tests, and theatrical exhibitions; or the industrial processes of antiquity; or Mediterranean trade; or Italian agriculture; or mining in ancient Spain; or the history of Roman coin- age; or the fluctuation of prices in antiquity; or the Roman attitude towards usury; or the pagan attitude towards im- mortality ; or the nature of ancient beverages ; or the relig- ious usages of the ancient Romans ; or any of a number of other topics ; one will find something concerning all of them in Pliny, He is apt both to depict such conditions in his own time and to trace them back to their origins. Further- more he repeats many detailed incidents of interest to the political or narrative historian of Rome as well as to the student of the economic, social, artistic, and religious life of antiquity. Probably there is no place where an isolated point is more likely to be run down by the investigator, and it is regrettable that exhaustive analytical indices of the work are not available. We may add that, although the work is supposedly a collection of facts, Pliny contrives to introduce many moral reflections and sharp comments on the luxury, vice, and unintellectual character of his times, suggesting Juvenal's picture of degenerate Roman society and his own lofty moral standards. Indeed, Pliny's title, Naturalis Historia, or at least the ^g ^ common English translation of it, "Natural History," has repository , . . . , ,. . , . , , 1,1 of ancient been criticized as too limited m scope, and the work has been natural described as "rather a vast encyclopedia of ancient knowl- science. edge and belief upon almost every known subject." ^ Pliny himself mentions in his preface the Greek word "encyclopedia" as indicative of his scope. Nevertheless, his work is primarily an account of nature rather than of civili- *Bostock and Riley (1855), I, xvi. 44 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. zation, and much of its information concerning such mat- ters as the arts and business is incidental. Most of its books bear such titles as Aquatic Animals, Exotic Trees, Medi- cines from Forest Trees, The Natures of Metals. After an introductory book containing the preface and a table of con- tents and lists of authorities for each of the subsequent books, the second book treats of the universe, heavenly bodies, meteorology, and the chief changes, such as earth- quakes and tides, in the land and water forming the earth's surface. After four books devoted to geography, the sev- enth deals with man and human inventions. Four more fol- low on terrestrial and aquatic animals, birds, and insects. Sixteen more are concerned with plants, trees, vines, and other vegetation, and the medicinal simples derived from them. Five books discuss the medicinal simples derived from animals, including the human body; and the last five books treat of metals and minerals and the arts in which they are employed. It is thus evident that in the main Pliny is concerned with natural science, and that, if his work is a mine of miscellaneous historical information, it should even more prove a rich treasure-house — "quoniam, ut ait Do- mitius Piso, thesauros oportet esse non libros" ^ — for an in- vestigation concerned as intimately as is ours with the his- tory of science. The Natural History is a great storehouse of misinfor- mation as well as of information, for Pliny's credulity and lack of discrimination harvested the tares of legend and magic along with the wheat of historical fact and ancient science in his voluminous granary. This may put other his- torical investigators upon their guard in accepting its state- ments, but only increases its value for our purpose. Per- haps it is even more valuable as a collection of ancient er- rors than it is as a repository of ancient science. It touches upon many of the varieties, and illustrates most of the char- acteristics, of magic. Moreover, Pliny often mentions the Magi or magicians and discusses "magic" expressly at some *NH. Preface. 11 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY 45 length in the opening chapters of his thirtieth book — one of the most important passages on the theme in any ancient writer. PHny the Elder, as we learn from his own statements in Piin/s the Natural History and from one or two letters concerning ^^^^c"*- him written by his nephew, Pliny the Younger, whom he adopted, went through the usual military, forensic, and offi- cial career of the Roman of good family, and spent his life largely in the service of the emperors. He visited vari- ous Mediterranean lands, such as Spain, Africa, Greece, and Egypt, and fought in Germany. He was in charge of the Roman fleet on the west coast of Italy when he met his death at the age of fifty-six by suffocation as he was trying to rescue others from the fumes and vapors from the erup- tion of Mount Vesuvius. Of Pliny's writings the Natural History is alone extant. His but other titles have been preserved which serve to show his writings, great literary industry and the extent of his interests. He wrote on the use of the javelin by cavalry, a life of his friend Pomponius, an account in twenty books of all the wars waged by the Romans in Germany, a rather long work on oratory called The Student, a grammatical or philo- logical work in eight books entitled De dubio sermone, and a continuation of the History of Aufidius Bassus in thirty- one books. Yet in the dedication of the Natural History to the emperor Titus he states that his days were taken up with official business and only his nights were free for literary labor. This statement is supported by a letter of his nephew telling how he used to study by candle-light both late at night and before daybreak. Pliny the Younger narrates sev- eral incidents to illustrate how jealous and economical of every spare moment his uncle was. He would dictate or have books read to him while lying down or in the bath, and on journeys a secretary was always by his side with books and tablets. If the weather was very cold, the amanuensis wore gloves so that his hands might not become too numb to write. Pliny always took notes on what he read, and at 46 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. History. his death left his nephew one hundred and sixty notebooks written in a small hand on both sides. His own Such were the conditions under which, and the methods description ^y which, Pliny compiled his encyclopedia on nature. No Natural single writer either Greek or Latin, he tells us, had ever be- fore attempted so extensive a task. He adds that he treats of some twenty thousand topics gleaned from the perusal of about two thousand volumes by one hundred authors.^ Judging from his bibliographies and citations, however, he would seem to have utilized more than one hundred au- thors. But possibly he had not read all the writers men- tioned in his bibliographies. He affirms that previous stu- dents have had access to but few of the volumes which he has used, and that he adds many things unknown to his ancient authorities and recently discovered. Occasionally he shows an acquaintance with beliefs and practices of the Gauls and Druids. Thus his work assumes to be something more tlian a compilation from other books. He says, how- ever, that no doubt he has omitted much, since he is only human and has had many other demands upon his time. He admits that his subject is dry (sterilis materia) and does not lend itself to literary exhibitions, nor include matters stimu- lating to write about and pleasant to read about, like speeches and marvelous occurrences and varied incidents. Nor does it permit purity and elegance of diction, since one must at times employ the terminology of rustics, foreigners, and even barbarians. Furthermore, "it is an arduous task to give novelty to what is ancient, authority to what is new, interest to what is obsolete, light to what is obscure, charm to what is loathsome" — as many of his medicinal simples undoubtedly are — "credit to what is dubious." It is a great comfort to Pliny, however, in his immense task, when many laugh at him as wasting his time over worthless trifles, to reflect that he is being spurned along with Nature.^ In another passage ^ he contrasts the blood His devo tion to science. NH, Preface. NH, xxn, 7. NH, n, 6. II PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY 47 and slaug'hter of military history with the benefits bestowed upon mankind by astronomers. In a third passage ^ he looks back regretfully at the widespread interest in science among the Greeks, although those were times of political disunion and strife and although communication between different lands was interrupted by piracy as well as war, whereas now, with the whole empire at peace, not only is no new scientific inquiry undertaken, but men do not even thoroughly study the works of the ancients, and are intent on the acquisition of lucre rather than learning. These and other passages which might be cited attest Pliny's devotion to science. In Pliny we also detect signs of the conflict between Conflict. science and religion. In a single chapter on God he says ^"^^ pretty much all that the church fathers later repeated at religion, much greater length against paganism and polytheism. But his discussion would hardly satisfy a Christian. He asserts that "it is God for man to aid his fellow man,- and this is the path to eternal glory," but he turns this noble sentiment to justify deification of the emperors who have done so much for mankind. He questions whether God is concerned with human affairs; slyly suggests that if so, God must be too busy to punish all crimes promptly; and points out that there are some things which God cannot do. He cannot commit suicide as men can, nor alter past events, nor make twice ten anything else than twenty. Pliny then concludes : "By which is revealed in no uncertain wise the power of Nature, and that is what we call God." In many other pas- sages he exclaims at Nature's benignity or providence. He believed that the soul had no separate existence from the body, ^ and that after death there was no more sense left in body or soul than was there before birth. The hope of per- sonal immortality he scorned as "puerile ravings" produced by the fear of death, and he believed still less in the possibility of any resurrection of the body. In short, natural law, me- NH, II, 46. iuvare mortalem. . , ." 'NH, II, 5. "Deus est mortali ' NH, VII, 56. 48 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. chanical force, and facts capable of scientific investigation would seem to be all that he will admit and to suffice to satisfy his strong intellect. Yet we shall later find him hav- ing the greatest difficulty in distinguishing between science and magic, and giving credence to many details in science which seem to us quite as superstitious as the pagan beliefs concerning the gods which he rejected. But if any reader is inclined to belittle Pliny for this, let him first stop and think how Pliny would ridicule some modern scientists for their religious beliefs, or for their spiritualism or psychic re- search. Pliny not It is desirable, however, to form some estimate of Pliny's naturalfst. fitness for his task in order to judge how accurate a picture of ancient science his work is. He does not seem to have had much detailed training or experience in the natural sci- ences himself. He writes not as a naturalist who has ob- served widely and profoundly the phenomena and opera- tions of nature, but as an omnivorous reader and volumin- ous note-taker who owes his knowledge largely to books or hearsay, although occasionally he says "I know" instead of **they say," or gives the results of his own observation and experience. In the main he is not a scientist himself but only a historian of science or nature; after all, his title, Natural History, is a very fitting one. The question, of course, arises whether he has sufficient scientific training to evaluate properly the work of the past. Has he read the best authors, has he noted their best passages, has he under- stood their meaning? Does he repeat inferior theories and omit the correcter views of certain Alexandrian scientists? These questions are hard to answer. On his behalf it may be said that he deals little with abstruse scientific theory and mainly with simple substances and geographical places, mat- ters in which it seems difficult for him to go far astray. Scientific specialists were not numerous in those days, any- way, and science had not yet so far advanced and ramified that one man might not hope to cover the entire field and do it substantial justice. Pliny the Younger was perhaps II PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY 49 authori- ties. a partial judge, but he described the Natural History as "a work remarkable for its comprehensiveness and erudition, and not less varied than Nature herself." ^ One thing in Pliny's favor as a compiler, besides his per- His use of sonal industry, unflagging interest, and apparently abundant supply of clerical assistance, is his full and honest statement of his authorities, although he adds that he has caught many authors transcribing others verbatim v^ithout acknowledg- ment. He has, however, great admiration for many of his authorities, exclaiming more than once at the care and dili- gence of the men of the past who have left nothing untried or unexperienced, from trackless mountain tops to the roots of herbs.^ Sometimes, nevertheless, he disputes their as- sertions. For instance, Hippocrates said that the appear- ance of jaundice on the seventh day in fever is a fatal sign, "but we know some who have lived even after this." ^ Pliny also scolds Sophocles for his falsehoods concerning amber.* It may seem surprising that he should expect strict scientific truth from a dramatic poet, but Pliny, like many medieval writers, seems to regard poets as good scientific authorities. In another passage he accepts Sophocles' statement that a certain plant is poisonous, rather than the contrary view of other writers, saying "the authority of so prominent a man moves me against their opinions." ^ He also cites Menander concerning fish and, like almost all the ancients, regards Homer as an authority on all matters.^ Pliny sometimes cites the works of King Juba of Numidia, than whom there hardly seems to have been a greater liar in antiquity.'^ He stated among other things in a work which he wrote for Gains Caesar, the son of Augustus, that a whale six hun- dred feet long and three hundred and sixty feet broad had ♦Letter to Macer, Ep. Ill, 5, ed. ''Yet C. W. King, Natural His- Keil. Leipzig, 1896. tory of Precious Stones, p. 2, de- 'NH, Vn, i; XXIII, 60; XXV, plores the loss of Juba's treatise, I ; XXVII, I. which he says, "considering his *XXVI, 76. position and opportunities for *XXXVlI, II. exact information, is perhaps the •XXI, 88. greatest we have to deplore in •XXXII, 24. this sad catalogue of desiderata." so MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. His lack of arrange- ment and classifica- tion. His scepticism and credulity. entered a river in Arabia.^ But where should Pliny turn for sober truth ? The Stoic Chrysippus prated of amulets ; ^ treatises ascribed to the great philosophers Democritus and Pythagoras ^ were full of magic; and in the works of Cicero he read of a man who could see for a distance of one hun- dred and thirty-five miles, and in Varro that this man, stand- ing on a Sicilian promontory, could count the number of ships sailing out of the harbor of Carthage.* The Natural History has been criticized as poorly ar- ranged and lacking in scientific classification, but this is a criticism which can be made of many works of the classi- cal period. Their presentation is apt to be rambling and discursive rather than logical and systematic. Even Aris- totle's History of Animals is described by Lewes ^ as un- classified in its arrangement and careless in its selection of material. I have often thought that the scholastic centuries did mankind at least one service, that of teaching lecturers and writers how to arrange their material. Pliny seems rather in advance of his times in supplying full tables of contents for the busy emperor's convenience. Valerius So- ranus seems to have been the only previous Roman writer to do this. One indication of haste in composition and failure to sift and compare his material is the fact that Pliny some- times makes or includes contradictory statements, probably taken from different authorities. On the other hand, he not infrequently alludes to previous passages in his own work, thus showing that he has his material fairly well in hand. Pliny once said that there was no book so bad but what some good might be got from it,® and to the modern reader he seems almost incredibly credulous and indiscriminate in *NH. xxxn, 4. *XXX, 30. ' Bouche-Leclercq (1899), p. 519, notes, however, that Aulus Gellius (X, 12) protested against Pliny's credulity in accepting such works as genuine and that "Colu- melle (VH, 5) cite un certain Bolus de Mendes comme I'auteur des vTOfiinifjLaTa attribucs a Dcmoc- rite." Bouche-Leclercq adds, how- ever, "Rien n'y fit: Democrite devint le grand docteur de Ut magie." 'NH, vn, 21. 'G. H. Lewes, Aristotle; a Chapter from the History of Science, London. 1864. * Letters of Pliny the Younger, in, 5, ed. Keil, Leipzig, 1896. II PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY 51 his selection of material, and to lack any standard of judg- ment between the true and the false. Yet he often assumes an air of scepticism and censures others sharply for their credulity or exaggeration. " 'Tis strange," he remarks a propos of some tales of men transformed into wolves for nine or ten years, "how far Greek credulity has gone. No lie is so impudent that it lacks a voucher." ^ Once he ex- presses his determination to include only those points on which his authorities are in agreement.^ On the whole, while to us to-day the Natural History a guide tc seems a disorderly and indiscriminate conglomeration of ^"j^^^"g fact and fiction, its defects are probably to a great extent those of its age and of the writers from whom it has bor- rowed. If it does not reflect the highest achievements and clearest thinking of the best scientists of antiquity — and be it said that there are a number of the Hellenistic age of whom we should know less than we do but for Pliny — it probably is a fairly faithful epitome of science and error concerning nature in his own time and the centuries pre- ceding. At any rate it is the best portrayal that has reached us. From it we can get our background of the confusion of magic and science in the Hellenistic age, and then reveal against this setting the development of them both in the course of the Roman Empire and middle ages. Pliny gives so many items upon each point, and is so much fuller than the average ancient or medieval book of science, that he serves as a reference book, being the likeliest place to look to find duplicated some statement concerning nature by a later writer. This of course shows that such a statement did not originate with the later writer, but is not a sure sign that he copied from Pliny ; they may both have used the same authorities, as seems the case with Greek authors later in the empire who probably did not know of Pliny's work. In the middle ages, however, Pliny had an undoubted His direct influence.^ Manuscripts of the Natural History are h^fluence. *NH, VIII, 34. des Plinius im Mittelalter, in * XXVIII, I. ^ Sitsh. Bayer. Akad. Philos-Philol. *Ruck. Die Naturalis Historia Classe (1908) pp. 203-318. For 52 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. numerous, although in a scarcely legible condition owing to corrections and emendations which enhance the obscurity of the text and perhaps do Pliny grave injustice in other re- spects.^ Also many manuscripts contain only a few books or fragments of the text, so that it is possible that many medieval scholars knew their Pliny only in part.^ This, however, can scarcely be argued from their failure to in- clude more from him in their own works; for that might be due to their knowing the Natural History so well that they took its contents for granted and tried to include other material in their own works. In a later chapter we shall treat of The Medicine of Pliny, a treatise derived from the Nat- ural History. Pliny's phrase rerum natura figures as the title of several medieval encyclopedias of somewhat similar scope. And his own name was too well known in the middle ages to escape having a work on the philosopher's stone ascribed to him.^ citations of Pliny by writers of the late Roman empire and early middle ages, see Panckoucke, Bibliotheque Latin e -Frang aise , vol. CVI. ^Concerning the MSS see Det- lefsen's prefaces in each of his first five volumes and his fuller dissertations in Jahn's Neue Jahrb., 77, 653ff, Rhein. Mus., XV, 265ff; XVIII, 227ff, 327. Detlefsen seems to have made no use of English MSS, but a folio of the close of the 12th cen- tury at New College, Oxford, contains the first nineteen books of the Natural History and is described by Coxe as "very well written and preserved." Nor does Detlefsen mention Le Mans 263, I2th century, containing all 37 books except that the last book is incomplete, and with a full page miniature (fol. lov) show- ing Pliny in the act of presenting his work to Vespasian. Escorial Q-I-4 and R-I-5 are two other practically complete texts of the fourteenth century which Detlef- sen failed to use. 'See M. R. James, Eton Manu- scripts, p. 63, MS 134, Bl. 4. 7., Roberti Crikeladensis Prioris Ox- oniensis excerpta ex Plinii His- toria Naturali, 12- 13th century, in a large English hand, giving extracts extending from Book II to Book IX. Of Balliol 124, fols. 1-138, Cos- mographia mundi, by John Free, born at Bristol or London, fellow at Balliol College, Oxford, later professor of medicine at Padua and a doctor at Rome, also well instructed in civil law and Greek, Coxe writes, "This work is noth- ing but a series of excerpts from Pliny's Natural History, beginning with the second and leaving off with the twentieth." I wonder if John Free may not have used the very MS of the first nineteen books mentioned in the foregoing note, since the second book of the Natural History is often reckoned as the first. In Balliol 146A, 15th century, fol. 3-, the Natural History ap- pears in epitome, with a prologue opening, "I, Reginald (Retinal- dus), servant of Christ, perusing the books of Pliny . . ." * Bologna, 952, 15th century, fols. 157-60, "Tractatus optimus in IX PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY S3 That the Natural History was well known as a whole at Early least by the close of the middle ages is shown by the numer- ^^|"^q^^ ous editions, some of them magnificently printed, which were turned off from the Italian presses immediately after the invention of printing. In the Magliabechian Library of Florence alone are editions printed at Venice in 1469 and 1472, at Rome in 1473 and Parma in 1481, again at Venice in 1487, 1 49 1, and 1499, not to mention Italian translations which appeared at Venice in 1476 and 1489.^ These edi- tions were accompanied by some published criticism of Pliny's statements, since in 1492 appeared at Ferrara a treat- ise On the Errors of Pliny and Others in Medicine by Nich- olas Leonicenus of Vicenza with a dedication to Politian.^ But two years later PHny found a defender in Pandulph CoUenucius.^ But Pliny's future influence will come out repeatedly in later chapters. We shall now inquire, first, what signs of experimental science he shows, either derived from the past or added by himself. Second, what he defines as magic and what he has to say about it. Third, how much of what he supposes to be natural science must we regard as essentially magic ? II. Its Experimental Tendency It is probably only a coincidence that two medieval manu- impor- scripts close the Natural History in the midst of the seventy- t^^ce of sixth chapter of the last book with the words, "Experimenta tion and plurihus modis constant . . . Primum pondere/' ^ But al- gnce^'' though from the very nature of his work Pliny makes ex- tensive use of authorities, he not infrequently manifests a realization, as one dealing with the facts of nature should, of the importance of observation and experience as means of quo exposuit et aperte declaravlt ana Florentiae adservantur, 1793- plinius philosophus quid sit lapis 1795, II, 374-81. philosophicus et ex qua materia 'De erroribus Plinii et aliorum debet fieri et quomodo." in medicina, Ferrara, 1492. * Fossi, Catalogus codicum ' Pliniana dcfensio, 1494. saeculo XV itnpressorum qtd in * Escorial Q-I-4, and R-I-S, both publico Bibliotheca Magliabechi- of the 14th century. 54 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap! reaching the truth. The claims of many Romans of high rank to have carried their arms as far as Mount Atlas, which Pliny declares has been repeatedly shown by experience to be most fallacious, leads him to the further reflection that nowhere is a lapse of one's credulity easier than where a dignified author supports a false statement.^ In other pas- sages he calls experience the best teacher in all things,^ and contrasts unfavorably garrulity of words and sitting in schools with going to solitudes and seeking herbs at their appropriate seasons. That upon our globe the land is en- tirely surrounded by water does not require, he says, inves- tigation by arguments, but is now known by experience.^ And if the salamander really extinguished fire, it would have been tried at Rome long ago.^ On the other hand, we find some assertions in the Natural History which Pliny might easily have tested himself and found false, such as his state- ment that an egg-shell cannot be broken by force or any weight unless it is tipped a little to one side.^ Sometimes he gives his personal experience,® but also mentions experience in many other connections. Use of The word employed most of the time by Pliny to denote the word experience is experimentum? In many passages the word mentum. does not indicate anything like a purposive, prearranged, scientific experiment in our sense of that word, but simply the ordinary experience of daily life.® We are also told what experti,^ or men of experience, advise. In a number of passages, however, experimentum is used in a sense some- *NH, V, I, 12. 41; VII, 56; VIII, 7; XIV, 8; *XXVI, 6, "usu efficacissimo XVI, i ; XVI, 64; XVII, 2; XVII, rerum omnium magistro" ; XVII, 35; XXII, i; XXII, 43; XXII, 2, 12, "quare experimentis optime 49! XXII, 51; XXV, 7; XXXIV, creditur." 39 and 51. Experience is also the 3 jj 65 idea in the two following passages, *XXIX 2'? although the word experimentum *XXTx' TT could not smoothly be rendered as 4f;i;:[f'' • „ ,. „ "experience" in a literal transla- -^ XXV 54, cora-mque nobis ; ^^^^. yn, 50, "Accedunt experi- XXV, 106, 'nos earn Romanis ex- ^^^^^ ^^ exempla recentissimi penmentis per usus digeremus. census . . ." ; XXVIII, 45, "Nee ' Sometimes another term, as uros aut bisontes habuerunt Graeci usus in note 2 above, is employed. in experimentis." "See II. 41, 1-2; II, 108; VII, "XVI, 24; XXII, 57; XXVI, 60. n PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY 55 what more closely approaching our "experiment." These are cases where something is being tested. For instance, a method of determining whether an tgg is fresh or rotten by putting it in water and watching if it floats or sinks is called an experimentiim} That horses would whinny at no other painting of a horse than that by Apelles is spoken of as illius cxperimentum artis, a test of, or testimony to, his art." The expression religionis experimento is applied to a religious test or ordeal by which the virginity of Claudia was vindi- cated,^ The word is also used of ways of telling if unguents are good^ and if wine is beginning to tum;^ and of various tests of the genuineness of drugs, gems, earths, and metals.®" It is also twice used of letting down a lighted lamp into a huge wine cask or into wells to discover if there is danger at the bottom from noxious vapors.''^ If the lamp was ex- tinguished, it was a sign of peril to human life. Pliny fur- ther suggests purposive experimentation in speaking of experimenta to discover water under ground ^ and in graft- ing trees. ^ Most of the tests and experiences thus far mentioned Experi- have been practical operations connected with husbandry and ^^^"clen-^ industry. But Pliny recounts one or two others which seem *'^.^ ^u"- osity. to have been dictated solely by scientific curiosity. He classi- fies the following as experimenta: ^° the sinking of a well to prove by its complete illumination that the sun casts no shadow at noon of the summer solstice; the marking of a dolphin's tail in order to throw some light upon its length of life, should it ever be captured again, as it was three hundred years later — perhaps the experiment of longest duration on record; ^^ and the casting of a man into a pit of * X, 75. 22 and 76 ; such phrases as sinceri XXXV, 30. experimentiim and vcri experi- VII, 35. mentum are used for "test o£ XIII, 3. genuineness." 'XIV. 25. 'XXIII, 31; XXXI, 28. ' XVII, 4 ; XX, 3 and 76 ; XXII, « XXXI, 27. 23; XXIX, 12; XXXIII, 19 and « XVII. 26. 43 and 44 and 57; XXXIV, 26 and '" II, 75. 48 : XXXVI, 38 and 55 ; XXXVII, " IX, 7. 56 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Medical experi- mentation. Chance experience and divine revelation. serpents at Rome to determine if he was really immune from their stings.^ Experimentum is employed by Pliny in a medical sense which becomes very common in the middle ages. He calls some remedies for toothache and inflamed eyes certa experi- menta — sure experiences.^ Later experimentum came to be applied to almost any recipe or remedy. Pliny, indeed, speaks of the doctors as learning at our risk and getting experience through our deaths.^ In another passage he states more favorably that "there is no end to experimenting with everything so that even poisons are forced to cure us." * He also briefly mentions the medical sect of Empirics, of whom we shall hear more from Galen. He says that they so name themselves from experiences ^ and originated at Agrigentum in Sicily under Acron and Empedocles. Pliny is puzzled how some things which he finds stated in "authors famous for wisdom" were ever learned by ex- perience, for example, that the star-fish has such fiery fervor that it burns everything in the sea which it touches, and di- gests its food instantly.® That adamant can be broken only by goat's blood he thinks must have been divinely revealed, for it would hardly have been discovered by chance, and he cannot imagine that anyone would ever have thought of testing a substance of immense value in a fluid of one of the foulest of animals. ''^ In several other passages he suggests chance, accident, dreams,® or divine revelation as the ways in which the medicinal virtues of certain simples were dis- covered. Recently, for example, it was discovered that the root of the wild rose is a remedy for hydrophobia by the mother of a soldier in the praetorian guard, who was warned * XXVIII, 6. 'XXVIII, 14. •XXIX, 8. "Discunt periculis nostris et experimenta per mortes agunt." Bostock and Riley trans- late the last clause, "And they ex- perimentalize by putting us to death." Another possible transla- tion is, "And their experiments cost lives." *XXV, 17. ". . . adeo nullo omnia experiendi fine ut cogeren- tur etiam venena prodesse." 'XXIX, 4 "... ab experimen- tis se cognominans empiricen." • IX, 86. 'XXXVII, 15. * According to Galen, as we shall hear later, the Empirics relied a good deal upon chance experience and dreams. II PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY 57 in a dream to send her son this root, which cured him and many others who have tried it since. ^ And a soldier in Pompey's time accidentally discovered a cure for elephan- tiasis when he hid his face for shame in some wild mint leaves.^ Another herb was accidentally found to be a cure for disorders of the spleen when the entrails of a sacrificial victim happened to be thrown on it and it entirely consumed the milt.^ The healing properties of vinegar for the sting of the asp were discovered by chance in this wise. A man who was stung by an asp while carrying a leather bottle of vinegar noticed that he felt the sting only when he set the bottle down.* He therefore decided to try the effects of a drink of the liquid and was thereby fully cured.^ Other remedies are learned through the experience of rustics and illiterate persons, and yet others may be discovered by ob- serving animals who cure their ills by them,*' Pliny's opinion is that the animals have hit upon them by chance. Pliny represents a number of marvelous and to us in- Marvels credible things as proved by experience. Divination from gxperi- thunder, for instance, is supported by innumerable experi- ence. ences, public and private. In two passages out of the three mentioning experti which I cited above, those experienced persons recommended a decidedly magical sort of procedure.'^ In another passage "the experience of many" supports "a strange observance" in plucking a bud.^ A fourth bit of magical procedure is called "marvelous but easily tested." * Thus the transition is an easy one from signs of experimen- tal science in the Natural History to our next topic, Pliny's account of magic. ^ XXV, 6. mouth, it will prevent one from ' XX, 52. feeling the heat in the baths. " XXV, 20. ' XXV, 6 and 21 and 50 ; XXVII, * XXIII, 27. 2. "Among other virtues of vine- 'XVI, 24; XXVI, 60. gar, besides its supposed property * XXIII, 59. of breaking rocks, Pliny mentions * XXVIII, 7. that if one holds some in the S8 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. III. Pliny's Account of Magic. Oriental Pliny supplies some account of the origin and spread of magic. magic ^ but a rather confused and possibly unreliable one, as he mentions two Zoroasters separated by an interval of five or six thousand years, and two Osthaneses, one of whom accompanied Xerxes, and the other Alexander, in their re- spective expeditions. He says, indeed, that it is not clear whether one or two Zoroasters existed. In any case magic has flourished greatly the world over for many centuries, and was founded in Persia by Zoroaster. Some other ma- gicians of Media, Babylonia, and Assyria are mere names to Pliny; later he mentions others like Apollobeches and Dar- danus. Although he thus derives magic from the orient, he appears to make no distinction, as we shall find other writers doing, between the Magi of Persia and ordinary magicians, nor does he employ the word magic in two senses. He makes it evident, however, that there have been other men who have regarded magic more favorably than he does. Its spread Pliny next traces the spread of magic among the Greeks. Greeks. -^^ marvels at the lack of it in the Iliad and the abundance of it in the Odyssey. He is uncertain whether to class Or- pheus as a magician, and mentions Thessaly as famous for its witches at least as early as the time of Menander who named one of his comedies after them. But he regards the Osthanes who accompanied Xerxes as the prime introducer of magic to the Greek-speaking world, which straightway went mad over it. In order to learn more of it, the philos- ophers Pythagoras, Empedocles, Democritus, and Plato went into distant exile and on their return disseminated their lore. Pliny regards the works of Democritus as the greatest single factor in that dissemination of the doctrines of magic which occurred at about the same time that medicine was being developed by the works of Hippocrates. Some * In the opening chapters of Book XXX, unless otherwise indicated by- specific citation. II PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY 59 regarded the books on magic ascribed to Democritus as spurious, but Pliny insists that they are genuine.^ Outside of the Greek-speaking world, whence of course Its spread magic spread to Rome, Pliny mentions Jewish magic, repre- Qraeco- sented by such names as Moses, Tannes, and Lotapes. But Roman -1 • • 1 TT 1 world. he holds that magic did not originate among the Hebrews until long after Zoroaster. He also speaks of the magic of Cyprus; of the Druids, who were the magicians, diviners, and medicine men of Gaul until the emperor Tiberius sup- pressed them ; and of distant Britain. ^ Thus discordant na- tions and even those ignorant of one another's existence agree the world over in their devotion to magic. From what Pliny tells us elsewhere of the Scythians we can see that the nomads of the Russian steppes and Turkestan were devoted to magic too. It has been shown that Pliny regarded magic as a mass Failure of doctrines formulated by a single founder and not as a stand its' gradual social evolution, just as the Greeks and Romans as- true origin. cribed their laws and customs to some single legislator. He admits in a way, however, the great antiquity claimed by magic for itself, although he questions how the bulky dicta of Zoroaster and Dardanus could have been handed down by memory during so long a period. This remark again shows how little he thinks of magic as a set of social customs and attitudes perpetuated through constant and universal prac- tice from generation to generation. Yet what he says of its v/idespread prevalence among unconnected peoples goes to prove this. Pliny has a clearer comprehension of the extensive scope Magic and of magic and of its essential characteristics, at least as it was divination, in his day. "No one should wonder," he says, "that its au- thority has been very great, since alone of the arts it has *Aulus Gellius, X, 12, and wrote the works of alchemy at- Columella, VII, 5, dispute this tributed to Democritus as well as (Bouche-Leclercq, L'Astrologie the books of medical and magical grecque, p. 519). Berthelot {Ori- recipes which are quoted in the gines de I'alchimie, p. 145) believes Geoponica and the Natural His- in a Democritan school at the be- tory. ginning of the Christian era which ^ XVI, 95. 6o MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Magic and religion. Magic and medicine. Magic and philos- ophy. embraced and united with itself the three other subjects which make the greatest appeal to the human mind," namely, medicine, religion, and the arts of divination, especially as- trology. That his phrase artes mathematicas has reference to astrology is shown by his immediately continuing, "since there is no one who is not eager to learn the future about himself and who does not think that this is most truly re- vealed by the sky." But magic further "promises to reveal the future by water and spheres and air and stars and lamps and basins and the blades of axes and by many other methods, besides conferences with shades from the infernal regions." There can therefore be no doubt that Pliny re- gards the various arts of divination as parts of magic. While we have heard Pliny assert in general the close connection between magic and religion, the character of the Natural History, which deals with natural rather than re- ligious matters, does not lead him to enter into much further detail upon this point. His occasional mention of religious usages in his own day, however, supports our information from other sources that the original Roman religion was very largely composed of magic forces, rules, and cere- monial. Nearly half the books of the Natural History deal in whole or in part with remedies for diseases, and it is there- fore of the relations between magic and natural science, and more particularly between magic and medicine, that Pliny gives us the most detailed information. Indeed, he asserts that "no one doubts" that magic "originally sprang from medicine and crept in under the show of promoting health as a loftier and more sacred medicine." Magic and medi- cine have developed together, and the latter is now in immi- nent danger of being overwhelmed by the follies of magic, which have made men doubt whether plants possess any medicinal properties. In the opinion of many, however, magic is sound and beneficial learning. In antiquity, and for that matter at almost all times, the height of literary fame and glory has II PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY 6i " been sought from that science.^ Eudoxus would have it the most noted and useful of all schools of philosophy. Em- pedocles and Plato studied it; Pythagoras and Democritus perpetuated it in their writings. But Pliny himself feels that the assertions of the books Falseness of magic are fantastic, exaggerated, and untrue. He re- ° "lag^c. peatedly brands the magi or magicians as fools or impostors, and their statements as absurd and impudent tissues of lies.^ Vanitas, or "nonsense," is his stock-word for their beliefs.* Some of their writings must, in his opinion, have been dic- tated by a feeling of contempt and derision for humanity.* Nero proved the falseness of the art, for although he studied magic eagerly and with his unlimited wealth and power had every opportunity to become a skilful practitioner, he was unable to work any marvels and abandoned the attempt.^ Pliny therefore comes to the conclusion that magic is "in- valid and empty, yet has some shadows of truth, which however are due more to poisons than to magic." ^ The last remark brings us to charges of evil practices Crimes made against the magicians. Besides poisons, they special- ° "lagic. ize in love-potions and drugs to produce abortions ; ''' and some of their operations are inhuman or obscene and abom- inable. They attempt baleful sorcery or the transfer of dis- ease from one person to another.^ Osthanes and even Dem- ocritus propound such remedies as drinking human blood or utilizing in magic compounds and ceremonies parts of the corpses of men who have been violently slain. ^ Pliny thinks that humanity owes a great debt to the Roman government ' XXX, 2. ". . . quamquam ani- XXIX, 26 ; XXX, 7 ; XXXVII, madverto summam Htterarum 14. claritatem gloriamque ex ea sci- ■* XXXVII, 40. entia antiquitus et paene semper » XXX 5-6. petitam." «XXx', 6.' "Proinde ita per- Examples are : XXV, 59, Sed ^^^^^^ ^j^ intestabilem, inritam. magi utique circa banc insaniunt ; j^^^^^^ ^^^^^ habentem tamen XXIX, 20 magorum mendacia ; q^asdam veritatis umbras, sed in XXXVII, 60, magorum inpuden- j^j^ veneficas artis pollere, non tiae vel manifestissimum . . . ex- niagicas " emplum"; XXXVII, 72), "dira 'XXV 7 mendacia magorum." , :L ' ;" 'See XXII, 9; XXVI, 9; * XXVIII, 23. XXVII, 6s; XXVIII, 2.^ and 27; " XXVIII, 2. 62 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Pliny's censure of magic is mainly in- tellectual. Vagueness of Pliny's scepticism. for abolishing those monstrous rites of human sacrifice, "in which to slay a man was thought most pious ; nay more, to eat men was thought most wholesome." ^ Pliny nevertheless lays less stress upon the moral argu- ment against magic as criminal or indecent than he does upon the intellectual objection to it as untrue and unscientific. Indeed, so far as decency is concerned, his own medicine will be seen to be far from prudish, while he elsewhere gives in- stances of magicians guarding against defilement.^ More- over, among the methods employed and the results sought by magic which he frequently mentions there are compara- tively few that are morally objectionable, although they seem without exception false. But many of their recipes aim at the cure of disease and other worthy, or at least admissible, objects. Possibly Pliny has somewhat censored their lore and tried to exclude all criminal secrets, but his censure seems more intellectual than moral. For instance, he fills a long chapter with extracts from a treatise on the virtues of the chameleon and its parts by Democritus, whom he regards as a leading purveyor of magic lore.^ In opening the chap- ter Pliny hails "with great pleasure" the opportunity to ex- pose "the lies of Greek vanity," but at its close he expresses a wish that Democritus himself had been touched with the branch of a palm which he said prevents immoderate loquac- ity. Pliny then adds more charitably, "It is evident that this man, who in other respects was a wise and most useful member of society, has erred from too great zeal in serving humanity." Pliny himself fails to maintain a consistently sceptical at- titude towards magic. His exact attitude is often hard to de- termine. Often it is difficult to say whether he is speaking in sober earnest or in a tone of light and easy pleasantry and sarcasm, as in the passage just cited concerning Democ- ritus. Another puzzling point is his frequent excuse that he will list certain assertions of the magicians in order to *XXX, 4. 'XXVIII, 19; XXX, 6. 'XXVIII, 29. II PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY 63 expose or confute them. But really he usually simply sets them forth, apparently expecting that their inherent and patent absurdity will prove a sufficient refutation of them. On the rare occasions when he undertakes to indicate in what the absurdity consists his reasoning is scarcely scientific or convincing. Thus he affirms that "it is a peculiar proof of the vanity of the magicians that of all animals they most admire moles who are condemned by nature in so many ways, to perpetual blindness and to dig in the darkness as if they were buried." ^ And he assails the belief of the magi ^ that an owl's egg is good for diseases of the scalp by asking, "Who, I beg, could ever have seen an owl's e.gg, since it is a prodigy to see the bird itself?" Moreover, he sometimes cites assertions of the magicians without any censure, apol- ogy, or expression of disbelief; and there are many other passages where it is practically impossible to tell whether he is citing the magicians or not. Sometimes he will apparently continue to refer to them by a pronoun in chapters where they have not been mentioned by name at all.^ In other places he will imperceptibly cease to quote the magi and after an interval perhaps as imperceptibly resume citation of their doctrines.* It is also difficult to determine just when writers like Democritus and Pythagoras are to be regarded as representatives of magic and when their statements are accepted by Pliny as those of sound philosophers. Perhaps, despite Pliny's occasional brave efforts to with- j^agic and stand and even ridicule the assertions of the magicians, he science could not free himself from a secret liking for them aiid guishable. more than half believed them. At any rate he believed very similar things. Even more likely is it that previous works on nature were so full of such material and the readers of his own day so interested in it, that he could not but include ^XXX, 7. we must look back three chapters *XXIX, 26. for the antecedent of corum. ^Fot instance, XXX, 27, he * XXXVII, 14, he says that he is mentions the magi, but not in going to confute "the unspeakable XXX, 28. Nor are they mentioned nonsense of the magicians" con- in XXX, 29, but in XXX, 30 cerning gems, but makes no spe- "plura eorum remedia ponemus" cific citation from them until the seems to refer to them, although thirty-seventh chapter on jasper. 64 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. much of it. Once he explains ^ that certain statements are scarcely to be taken seriously, yet should not be omitted, be- cause they have been transmitted from the past. Again he begs the reader's indulgence for similar "vanities of the Greeks," "because this too has its value that we should know whatever marvels they have transmitted." ^ The truth of the matter probably is that Pliny rejected some assertions of the magicians but found others acceptable; that he gets his occasional attitude of scepticism and ridicule of their doctrines from one set of authorities, and his moments of unquestioning acceptance of their statements from other authors on whom he relies. Very likely in the books which he used it often was no clearer than it is in the Natural History whether a statement was to be ascribed to the magi or not. Very possibly Pliny was as confused in his own mind concerning the entire business as he seems to be to us. He could no more keep magic out of his Natural History than poor Mr, Dick could keep Charles the First's head out of his book. One fact at any rate stands out clearly, the prominence of magic in his encyclopedia and in the learning of his age. IV. The Science of the Magi Magicians Let US now further examine Pliny's picture of magic, gators of riot as he expressly defines or censures it, but as he reflects nature. j^g q-^^ assertions and purposes in his fairly numerous cita- tions from its literature and perhaps its practice. Here I shall rather strictly limit my survey to those statements which Pliny definitely ascribes by name to the magi or magic art. The most striking fact is that the magicians are cited again and again concerning the supposed properties, virtues, and effects of things in nature — herbs, animals, and stones. These virtues are, it is true, often employed in an effort to produce wonderful results, and often too they are combined with some fantastic rite or superstitious ceremonial per- formed by a human agent. But in many cases either no »XXX, 47. =" XXXVII, II. on herbs. rx PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY 65 rite at all is suggested or merely some simple medicinal ap- plication; and in a few cases there is no mention of any par- ticular operation or result, the magicians are cited simply as authorities concerning the great but unspecified virtues of natural objects. Indeed, they stand out in Pliny's pages not as mere sorcerers or enchanters or wonder-workers, but as those who have gone the farthest and in most detail — too far and too curiously in Pliny's opinion — into the study of medi- cine and of nature. Sometimes their statements, cited with- out censure, supplement others concerning the species under discussion;^ sometimes they are his sole source of informa- tion on the subject in hand.^ Pliny connects the origin of botany rather closely with The magi magic, mentioning Medea and Circe as early investigators of plants and Orpheus among the first writers on the sub- ject.^ Moreover, Pythagoras and Democritus borrowed from the mac/i of the orient in their works on the properties of plants.^ There would be little profit in repeating the names of the herbs concerning which Pliny gives opinions of the magicians, inasmuch as few of them can be associated with any plants known to-day.^ Suffice it to say that Pliny makes no objection to the herbs which they employed. Nor does he criticize their methods of employing them, although some seem superstitious enough to the modern reader. A chaplet is worn of one herb,® others are plucked with the left hand and with a statement of what they are to be used for, and in one case without looking backward.'^ The anem- one is to be plucked when it first appears that year with a statement of its intended use, and then is to be wrapped in a red cloth and kept in the shade, and, whenever anyone falls sick of tertian or quartan fever, is to l3e bound on the pa- tient's body.^ The heliotrope is not to be plucked at all but 'XX, 30; XXI, 38, 94, 104; 104; XXII, 9, 24, 29; XXIV, 99. XXII, 24, 29. 102; XXV, 59, 65, 80-81; XXVI, =XXI, 36; XXIV, 99. 9- ' XXV, 5. * XXI, 38. ^XXIV, 99-102. 'XXI, 104; XXII, 24. ^See XX, 30; XXI, 36, 38, 94, 'XXI. 94. 66 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Marvelous virtues of herbs. tied in three or four knots with a prayer that the patient may recover to untie the knots. ^ PHny does not even object to the marvelous results which the magi think can be gained by use of herbs until towards the close of his twenty-fourth book, although already in his twentieth and twenty-first books such powers have been claimed for herbs as to make one well-favored and enable one to attain one's desires,^ or to give one grace and glory.^ At the end of his twenty-fourth book * he states that Pythag- oras and Democritus, following the magi, ascribe to herbs unusually marvelous virtues such as to freeze water, invoke spirits, force the guilty to confess by frightening them with apparitions, and impart the gift of divination. Early in his twenty-fifth book ^ Pliny suggests that some incredible effects have been attributed to herbs by the magi and their disciples, and in a later chapter ® he describes the magi as so mad about vervain that they think that if they are anointed with it, they can gain their wishes, drive away fevers and other dis- eases, and make friendships. The herb should be plucked about the rising of the dog-star when there is neither sun nor moon. Honey and honeycomb should be offered to ap- pease the earth; then the plant should be dug around with iron with the left hand and raised aloft. By the time he reaches his twenty-sixth book Pliny's courage has risen, so to speak, enough to cause him at last to enter upon quite a tirade against "magical vanities which have been carried so far that they might destroy faith in herbs entirely." "^ As examples he mentions herbs supposed to dry up rivers and swamps, open barred doors at their touch, turn hostile armies to flight, and supply all the needs of the ambassadors of the Persian kings. He wonders why such herbs have never been employed in Roman warfare or Italian drainage. Pliny's only objection to magic herbs therefore seems to be the excessive powers which are claimed for some of them. 'XXII, 29. 'XX, 30. •XXI, 38. *XXIV, 99 and 102. 'XXV, 5. «XXV, 59. 'XXVI, 9- II PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY 67 He adds that it would be strange that the creduhty which arose from such wholesome beginnings had reached such a pitch, if human ingenuity observed moderation in anything and if the much more recent system of medicine which As- clepiades founded could not be shown to have been carried even beyond the magicians. Here again we see Pliny failing to recognize magic as a primitive social product and regard- ing it as a degeneration from ancient science rather than science as a comparatively modern development from it. But he may well be right in thinking that many particular far-fetched recipes and rites were the late, artificial product of over-scholarly magicians. Thus he brands as false and magical the assertion of a recent grammarian, Apion, that the herb cynocephalia is divine and a safeguard against poison, but kills the man who uproots it entirely.-^ In a few cases Pliny objects to the animals or parts of Animals animals employed by the magi, as in the passage already cited of^^^f/*^ where he complains that they admire moles more than any mals. other animals.^ But his assertion is inconsistent, since he has already affirmed that they hold the hyena in most admi- ration of all animals on the ground that it works magic upon men.^ Their promise of readier favor with peoples and kings to those who anoint themselves with lion's fat, espe- cially that between the eyebrows, he criticizes by declaring that no fat can be found there.^ He also twits the magi for magnifying the importance of so nasty a creature as the tick.^ They are attracted to it by the fact that it has no outlet to its body and can live only seven days even if it fasts. Whether there is any astrological significance in the number seven here Pliny does not say. He does inform us, how- ever, that the cricket is employed in magic because it moves backward.^ A very bizarre object employed by the Druids and other magicians is a sort of tgg produced by the hissing or foam of snakes."^ The blood of the basilisk may also be ;XXX, 6. 'XXX, 24. "xxviiii 27. "xxix, 39. * XXVIII, 25. 'XXIX. 12. 68 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. classed as a rarity. Apparently animals in some way un- usual are preferred in magic, like a black sheep/ but the logic in the reasons given by Pliny for their selection is not clear in every instance. In some other cases not criticized by Pliny ^ we have plainly enough sympathetic magic or the principle of like cures like, as when the milt of a calf or sheep is used to cure diseases of the human spleen. Further The magicians, however, do not scorn to use familiar instances and easily obtainable animals like the goat and dog and cat. The liver and dung of a cat, a puppy's brains, the blood and genitals of a dog, and the gall of a black male dog are among the animal substances employed.^ Such substances as those just named are equally in demand from other animals.^ Mi- nute parts of animals are frequently employed by the magi- cians, such as the toe of an owl, the liver of a mouse given in a fig, the tooth of a live mole, the stones from young swallows' gizzards, the eyes of river crabs.^ Sometimes the part employed is reduced to ashes, perhaps a relic of sacrificial custom. Thus for toothache the magi inject into the ear nearer the tooth the ashes of the head of a mad dog and oil of Cyprus, while they prescribe for affections of the sinews the ashes of an owl's head in honied wine with lily root.^ Other living creatures which Pliny mentions as used by the magi are the salamander, earthworm, bat, scarab with reflex horns, lizard, tortoise, bed-bug, frog, and sea- urchin.'^ The dragon's tail wrapped in a gazelle's skin and bound on with deer-sinews cures epilepsy,® and a mixture of the dragon's tongue, eyes, gall, and intestines, boiled in oil, cooled in the night air, and rubbed on morning and evening, frees one from nocturnal apparitions.® Sometimes the parts of animals are bound on outside the patient's body, sometimes the injured portion of his body ^XXX, 6. 7; XXX, 27; XXXII. 38. 'XXVIII, 57; XXX, 17. «XXX, 8 and 36; see also "Use of goat, XXVIII, 56, 63, XXVIII. 60; XXXII, 19 and 24. 78-79; cat, XXVIII, 66; puppy, 'XXIX, 23; XXX, 18, 20, 30. XXIX, 38: dop, XXX, 21. 49; XXXII, 14, 18, 24. * XXVIII, 60, 66, 77; XXIX, 26. *XXX, 27. • XXVIII, 66 ; XXIX, 15 ; XXX, " XXX, 24. II PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY 69 is merely touched with them. Once the whole house is to be Magic fumigated with the substance in question ; ^ once the walls "nf^als are to be sprinkled with it ; once it is to be buried under the and parts threshold. Some instances follow of more elaborate magic ritual connected with the use of animals or parts of animals. The hyena is more easily captured by a hunter who ties seven knots in his girdle and horsewhip, and it should be captured when the moon is in the sign of Gemini and with- out the loss of a single hair.^ Another bit of astrology dis- pensed by the tnagi is that the cat, whose salted liver is taken with wine for quartan fever, should have been killed under a waning moon.^ To cure incontinence of urine one not only drinks ashes of a boar's genitals in sweet wine, but afterwards urinates in a dog kennel and repeats the for- mula, "That I may not urinate like a dog in its kennel." * The magicians insist that the sex of the patient be observed in administering burnt cow-dung or bull-dung in honied wine for cases of dropsy.^ For infantile ailments the brains of a she-goat should be passed through a gold ring and dropped in the baby's mouth before it is given its milk.® After the fresh milt of a sheep has been applied to the pa- tient with the words, "This I do for the cure of the spleen," it should be plastered into the bedroom wall and sealed with a ring, while the charm should be repeated twenty-seven times."^ In treating sciatica^ an earthworm should be placed in a broken wooden dish mended with an iron band, the dish should be filled with water, the worm should be buried again where it was dug up, and the water should be drunk by the patient. The eyes of river crabs are to be attached to the patient's person before sunrise and the blinded crabs put back into the water.^ After it has been carried around the house thrice a bat may be nailed head down outside a window as an amulet. ^^ For epilepsy goat's flesh should be ^XXX, 24. "XXVIII, 78. 'XXVIII, 27. 'XXX, 17. » XXVIII, 66; and see XXIX, ^XXX 18 '^*xxvTii, 60. 'xxxii, 38. " XXVIII, 68. "XXIX, 26. 70 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Marvels wrought with parts of ani- mals. The magi on stones. given which has been roasted on a funeral pyre, and the animal's gall should not be allowed to touch the ground.^ Pliny occasionally speaks in a vague general way of his citations from the magi concerning the virtues of parts of animals as lies or nonsense or ''portentous," but he does not specifically criticize their procedure any more than he did their methods of employing herbs, and he does not criticize their promised results as much as he did before. Indeed, as we have already indicated, the object in a majority of cases is purely medicinal. The purpose of others is pastoral or agricultural, such as preventing goats from straying or caus- ing swine to follow you.^ The blood of the basilisk, how- ever, is said to procure answers to petitions made to the powerful and prayers addressed to the gods, and to act as a safeguard against poison or sorcery {veneficiorum amuleta).^ Invincibility is promised the wearer of the head and tail of a dragon, hairs from a lion's forehead, a lion's marrow, the foam of a winning horse, a dog's claw bound in deerskin, and the muscles alternately of a deer and a gazelle.* A woman will tell secrets in her sleep if the heart of an owl is applied to her right breast, and power of divina- tion is gained by eating the still palpitating heart of a mole.'^ In the case of stones the names are again, as in the case of herbs, of little significance for us.^ The accompany- ing ritual is slight. There are one or two suspensions from the neck or elsewhere by such means as a lion's mane — the hair of the hyena will not do at all — nor the hair of the cynocephalus and swallows' feathers. '^ There is some use of incantations with the stones, a setting of iron for one stone, burial of another beneath a tree that it may not dull the axe, and placing another on the tongue after rinsing the mouth with honey at certain days and hours of the moon in order to acquire the gift of divination.^ Indeed, the results promised * XXVIII, 63. * XXVIII, 56; XXIX, 15. "XXIX, 19. *XXIX, 20. *XXIX, 26; XXX, 7. * Pliny ascribes statements cerning stones to the magi in the following chapters: XXXVI, 34; XXXVII, 37, 40, 49, SI, 54, 56, 60, 70, 73- ' XXXVII, 54 and 40. * XXXVII, 40, 60, 56, 73- II PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY 71 are all marvelous. The stones benefit public speakers, admit to the presence of royalty, counteract fascination and sor- cery, avert hail, thunderbolts, storms, locusts, and scorpions ; chill boiling water, produce family discord, render athletes invincible, quench anger and violence, make one invisible, evoke images of the gods and shades from the infernal re- gions. We have yet to mention a group of magical recipes and other remedies which Pliny for some reason collects in one chap- "magical ■' '■ recipes, ter ^ but which hardly fall under any one head. A whet- stone on which iron tools are sharpened, if placed without his knowledge under the pillow of a man who has been poi- soned, will cause him to reveal all the circumstances of the crime. If you turn a man who has been struck by lightning over on his injured side, he will speak at once. To cure tu- mors in the groin, tie seven or nine knots in the remnant of a weaver's web, naming some widow as each knot is tied. The pain is assuaged by binding to the body the nail that has been trod on. To get rid of warts, on the twentieth day of the moon lie flat in a path gazing at the moon, stretch the hands above the head and rub the warts with anything that comes to hand. A corn may be extracted successfully at the moment a star shoots. Headache may be relieved by a liniment made by pouring vinegar on door hinges or by binding a hangman's noose about the patient's temples. To dislodge a fish-bone stuck in the throat, plunge the feet into cold water; to dislodge some other sort of bone, place bones on the head; to dislodge a morsel of bread, stuff bits of bread into both ears. We may add from a neighboring chapter a very magical remedy for fevers, although Pliny calls it "the most modest of their promises." ^ Toe and fin- ger nail parings mixed with wax are to be attached ere sun- rise to another person's door in order to transfer the disease from the patient to him. Or they may be placed near an ant-hill, in which case the first ant who tries to drag one in- ^ XXVIII, 12, "Magorum haec ^ XXVIII, 23. commenta sunt. . . ." 72 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap: Summary of the state- ments of the magi. From the magi to Pliny's magic side the hill should be captured and suspended from the pa- tient's neck. Such is the picture we derive from numerous passages in the Natural History of the magic art, its materials and rites, the effects it seeks to produce, and its general attitude towards nature. Besides the natural materials employed and the marvelous results sought, we have noted the frequent use of ligatures, suspensions, and amulets, the obser\''ance of astrological conditions, of certain times and numbers, rules for plucking herbs and tying knots, stress on the use of the right or left hand — in other words, on position or direction, some employment of incantations, some sacrifice and fumi- gation, some specimens of sympathetic magic, of the theory that "like cures like," and of other types of magic logic. V. Pliny's Magical Science We may now turn to the still more numerous passages of the Natural History where the magi are not cited and com- pare the virtues there ascribed to the things of nature and the methods employed in medicine and agriculture with those of the magicians. We shall find many striking resem- blances and shall soon come to a realization that there is more magic in the Natural History which is not attributed to the magi than there is that is. Pliny did not need to warn us that medicine had been corrupted by magic; his own medicine proves it. It is this fact, that virtually his entire work is crammed with marvelous properties and fantastic ceremo- nial, which makes it so difficult in some places to tell when he begins to draw material from the magi and when he leaves off. By a detailed analysis of this remaining mate- rial we shall now attempt to classify the substances of which Pliny makes use and the virtues which he ascribes to them, the rites and methods of procedure by which they are em- ployed, and certain superstitious doctrines and notions which are involved. We shall thus find that almost pre- cisely the same factors are present in his science as in the lore of the magicians. PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY 73 Of substances we may begin with animals/ and, before Habits of we note the human use of their virtues with its strong sug- animals, gestion of magic, may remark another unscientific and su- perstitious feature which was very common both in ancient and medieval times. This is the tendency to humanize ani- mals, ascribing to them conscious motives, habits, and ruses, or even moral standards and religious veneration. We shall have occasion to note the same thing in other authors and so will give but a few specimens from the many in the Nat- ural History. Such qualities are attributed by Pliny espe- cially to elephants, whom he ranks next to man in intelli- gence, and whom he represents as worshiping the stars, learning difficult tricks, and as having a sense of justice, feel- * Some works upon animals in antiquity and Greece are : Aubert und Wimmer, Aristo- teles Thierkunde, 2 vols., Leipzig, 1868. Baethgen, De vi et signiUcatione gain in religione ct artibus Graecorum et Romanorum, Diss. Inaug., Gottingen, 1887. Bernays, Theophrasts Schrift liber Frommigkeit. Bikelas, O., La nomenclature de la Faune grecque, Paris, 1879. Billerbeck, De locis nonnullis Arist. Hist. Animal. difUcilioribus , Hildesheim, 1806. Dryoff, A., Die Tierpsychologie des Plutarchs, Progr. Wiirzburg, 1897. tJber die stoische Tierpsy- chologie, in Bl. f. bayr. Gymn., 23 (1897) 399ff.; 34 (1898) 416. Erhard, Fauna der Cykladen, Leipzig, 1858. Fowler, W. W., A Year with the Birds, 1895. Hopf, L., Thierorakel und Ora- kelthiere in alter und ncucr Zeit, Stuttgart, 1888. Hopfner, T., Der Tierkult der alten ALgypter nach den griech- isch-romischen Berichten und den unchtigen Denkmdlcrn, in Denkschr. d. Akad. Wien, 1913, ii Abh. Imhoof-Blumer, F., und Keller, O., Tier- und Pilansenbilder auf Miinscn und Gcmmcn des klas- sischen Altertums. illustrated, Keller, O., Thiere des class. Altertums. Kriiper, Zeit en des Gehens und Kommens und des Briitens der Vogel in Griechenland und lonien, in Mommsen's Griech. Jahrcssei- tcn, 1875. Kiister, E., Die Schlange in der griechischen Kunst und Religion, Giessen, 1913. Lebour, Zoologist, 1866. Lewysohn, Zoologie des Tal- mud s. Lindermayer, A., Die Vogel Griechenlands, Passau, i860. Locard, Histoire des mollusques dans I'antiquite, Lyon, 1884. Lorenz, Die Taube im Alter- thutne, 1886. Marx, A., Griech. Mdrchen von dankbaren Tieren, Stuttgart, 1889, Miihle, H. v. d., Beitrdge sur Ornithologie Griechenlands, Leip- zig, 1844. Sundevall, Thierarten des Aris- toteles, Stockholm, 1863. Thompson, D'Arcy W., A Glos- sary of Greek Birds, 1895. Aris- totle as a Biologist, 1913. Also the notes to his translation of the Historia animalium. Westermarck, E., The Origin and Development of Moral Ideas, I (1906) 251-60, gives further bibliography on the subjects of animals as witnesses and the pun- i:.hment of animal culprits. ■ 74 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. ing of mercy, and so on.^ Similarly the lion has noble cour- age and a sense of gratitude, while the lioness is wily in the devices by which she conceals her amours with the pard.^ A number of the devices of fishes to escape hooks and nets are repeated by Pliny from Ovid's Haliciiticon, extant only in fragments.^ The crocodile opens its jaws to have its teeth picked by a friendly bird ; but sometimes while this operation is being performed the ichneumon "darts down its throat like a javelin and eats away its intestines."* Pliny also marvels at the cleverness displayed by the dragon and the elephant in their combats with one another,^ which, how- ever, almost invariably terminate fatally to both combatants, the elephant falling exhausted in the dragon's coils and crushing the serpent by its weight. Others say that in the hot summer the dragons thirst for the blood of the elephant which is very cold ; in their combat the elephant falls drained of its blood and crushes the dragon who is intoxicated by the same. Remedies The dragon's apparent knowledge that the elephant is b'^anhnal*^ cold-blooded leads us to a kindred topic, the remedies used by animals and often discovered by men only by seeing ani- mals use them. This notion continued in the middle ages, as we shall see, and of course it did not originate with Pliny. As he says himself, "The ancients have recorded the reme- dies of wild beasts and shown how they are healed even when poisoned." ^ Against aconite the scorpion eats white helle- bore as an antidote, while the panther employs human ex- crement.'^ Animals prepare themselves for combats with poisonous snakes by eating certain herbs; the weasel eats rue, the tortoise and deer use two other plants, while field mice who have been stung by snakes eat condrion.^ The hawk tears open the hawkweed and sprinkles its eyes with the juice.^ The serpent tastes fennel when it sheds its old »VIII, I-I2. * XXVII, 2; XVIII, I. »VIII, 17-21. ''XXVII, 2; VIII, 41- ^ XXXII, S. "XX, 51 and 61; XXII, 37 and * VIII, 37. 45. "VIII, 11-12. "XX, 26. II PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY 75 of ani- mals. skin,^ Sick bears cure themselves by a diet of ants.^ Swal- lows restore the sight of their young with chelidonia or swal- low-wort,^ and the historian Xanthus says that the dragon restores its dead offspring to life with an herb called balis^ The hippopotamus was the original discoverer of bleeding,^ opening a vein in his leg by wounding himself on sharp reeds along the shore, and afterwards checking the flow of blood by plastering the place with mud.^ Pliny, however, states in one passage that animals hit upon all these remedies by chance and even have to rediscover them by accident in each new case, "since," he continues in conformity with recent animal psychologists, "reason and practice cannot be trans- mitted between wild beasts." '^ Yet in another passage Pliny deplores the spite fulness jealousy of the dog which, while men are looking, will not pluck the herb by which it cures itself of snakebite.^ Probably Pliny is using different authorities in the two passages. Theo- phrastus, the pupil of Aristotle, had written a work on Jealous Animals. More excusable than the spitefulness of the dog is the attitude of the dragon, from whose brain the gem draconitis must be taken while the dragon is alive and preferably asleep. For if the dragon feels that it is mor- tally wounded, it takes revenge by spoiling the gem.^ Ele- phants know that men hunt them only for their tusks, and so bury these when they fall ofif.^° Animals have marvelous virtues of their own other than the medicinal uses to which men have put them. For in- stance, the mere glance of the basilisk is fatal, and its breath burns up vegetation and breaks rocks. ^^ But the medicinal effects which Pliny ascribes to animals and parts of animals 'VIII, 41; XX, 95. 'XXIX, 39. •XXV, 50. Occult virtues of animals. *XXV, 5. ^ VIII, 40; XXVIII, 31. ° For further remedies used by animals see VIII, 41 ; XXIX, 14, 38; XXV, 52-53; XXVIII, 81. ' XXVII, 2. ". . . quod certe casu repertum quis dubitet et quo- tiens fiat etiam nunc ut novom nasci quoniam feris ratio et usus inter se tradi non possit?" Per- haps Pliny would have denied the inheritance of acquired character- istics. XXV, 51. ' XXXVII, "VIII, 4. ' VIII, 33. 57. 76 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. are well nigh infinite. Many animal substances will have to be introduced in other connections so that we need mention now but a very few : the heads and blood of flies, honey in which bees have died, cinere genitalis asini, chicks in the t.gg, and thrice seven centipedes diluted with Attic honey,^ — this last a prescription for asthma and to be taken through a reed because it blackens every dish by its contact. Another passage advises eating a rat or shrew-mouse in order to bear a baby with black eyes.^ These items are enough to convince us that the animals and parts of animals employed by the magicians were not one whit more bizarre and nauseating than the others found in the Natural History, nor were the cures which they were expected to work any more improbable. In order to illustrate, however, the delicate distinctions which were imagined to exist not only between the virtues of dif- ferent parts of the same animal, but also between slightly varied uses of the same part, we may note that scales scraped from the topmost part of a tortoise's shell and ad- ministered in drink check sexual desire, considering which, it is, as Pliny remarks, the more marvelous that a powder made of the entire shell is reported to arouse lust.^ But love turns readily to hatred in magic as well as in romance, and it is nothing very unusual, as we shall find in other authors, for the same thing on slight provocation to work in exactly opposite ways. The Pig grease, Pliny somewhere informs us, possesses espe- he^rbs" ° cially strong virtue, "because that animal feeds on the roots of herbs." ^ From the virtues of animals, therefore, let us turn to those of herbs. ^ Pliny met on every hand assertion of their wonderful powers. The empire-builders of Rome employed the sacred herbs sagmina and verbenae in their em- bassies and legations. The Gauls, too, use the verbena in ^XXIX, 34; XXX, 10, 19; theme is Joret, Les plantes dans XXVIII, 46; XXIX, 11; XXX, /'anfi^Mjf^', Paris, 1904 ; see also F. 16. Mentz, De plantis qiias ad rem XXX, 46, magicam facere crediderunt vet- * XXXII, 14. eres, Leipzig, 1705, 28 pp.; F. * XXVIII, 27- Unger, Die Pilanze als Zauber- 'A recent work on the general mittel, Vienna, 1859. II PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY 77 lot-casting and prophetic responses.^ Pliny also states more sceptically that there is another root which diviners take in drink in order to feign inspiration.^ The Scythians know of a plant which prevents hunger and thirst if held in the mouth, and of another which has the same effect upon their horses, so that they can go for twelve days without meat or drink, ^ — an exaggerated estimate of the hardihood of the mounted Asiatic nomads and their steeds. Musaeus and Hesiod say that one anointed with potion will attain fame and dignities.* Pliny perhaps did not intend to subscribe fully to such statements, although he cannot be said to call many of them into question. He did complain that some writers had as- serted incredible powers of herbs, such as to restore dragons or men to life or withdraw wedges from trees, ^ yet he seems on the whole in sympathy with the opinion of the majority that there is practically nothing which the force of herbs cannot accomplish. Herophilus, illustrious in medicine, had said that certain herbs were beneficial if merely trod upon, and Pliny himself says the same of more than one plant. He tells us further that binding the wild fig tree about their necks makes the fiercest bulls stand immobile ; ^ that another plant subjects fractious beasts of burden to the yoke ; ' while cows who eat buprestis burst asunder.^ Another herb con- tacto genitali kills any female animal.® Betony is considered an amulet for houses, ^° and fishermen in Pliny's neighbor- hood mix a plant with chalk and scatter it on the waves. ^'^ "The fish dart towards it with marvelous desire and straight- way float lifeless on the surface." Dogs will not bark at persons carrying peristereos}^ The "impious plant" pre- vents any human being who tastes it from having quinsy, while swine are sure to have that disease if they do not eat it. ^ XXII, 3 ; XXV, 59 ; XXVII, 28. ' XXIII, 64. ' XXI, 105. "Halicacabi radicem ' XXV, 35- bibunt qui vaticinari gallantesque ' XXII, 36. vere ad confirmandas superstiti- " XXIV, 94. ones aspici se volunt." " XXV, 46. ' XXV, 43-44- " XXV, 54. *XXI, 21, 84. "XXV. 78. "XXV, 5 78 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Some place it in birds' nests to prevent the voracious nest- lings from strangling. Bitter almonds provide another amusing combination of effects. Eating five of them per- mits one to drink without experiencing intoxication, but if foxes eat them they will die unless they find water near by to drink. ^ There are some herbs which have a medicinal effect, if one merely looks at them.- In two cases the masculine or feminine variety of a herb is used to secure the birth of a child of the desired sex.^ Plucking That the plucking of herbs and digging up of roots was a process very apt to be attended by magical procedure we find abundant evidence in the Natural History. Often plants should be plucked before sunrise.^ Twice Pliny tells us that the peony should be uprooted by night lest the wood- pecker of Mars try to pick the digger's eyes out.^ The state of the moon is another point to be observed,* and once an herb is to be gathered before thunder is heard.'^ A common instruction is to pick the plant with the left hand,^ and once with the thumb and fourth finger of the left hand.^ Once the right hand should be stretched covertly after the fashion of a pickpocket through the left sleeve in order to pluck the plant. ^'^ Sometimes one faces east in plucking herbs ; sometimes, west ; again one is careful not to face the wind.^^ Sometimes the gatherer must not glance behind liim. Sometimes he must fast before he takes the plant from the ground;^- again he must observe a state of chastity.^^ Sometimes he should be barefoot and clothed in white; again he should remove every^ stitch of clothing and even his rings. ^"* Sometimes the use of iron implements is forbidden ; again gold or some other material is prescribed ; ^^ once the herb is to be dug with a nail.^*' Sometimes circles are traced * XXIII. 7S. = XXIII, 59. "XXIV, 56-57. ^^XXIV, 62. •XXV, 18; XXVII, 100. "XXV 'I 04 ^XX. 14; XXIV, 82; XXV, 92. -XXIV ~63 and 118. 'XXV. 10; XXVII, 60. "XXI 19 ;^,^,(V' 6. 93. "XXIV, 62; XXIII, 59- 'XX, 49: XXI, 83: XXIII, 54; ">^^"I' 8^; XXIV. 6. 62, 116. XXIV, 63; XXV, 59; XXVI, 12. "XXVI. 12. Ti PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY 79 about the plant with the point of a sword. ^ Often the plant must not touch the ground again after it is picked,^ presumably from a fear that its virtue would run ofT like an electric current. Pliny alludes at least three times ^ to the practice of herbalists of retaining portions of the herbs they sell, and then, if they are not paid in full, replanting the herb in the same spot with the idea that thereby the dis- ease will return to plague the delinquent patient. Fre- quently one is directed to state why one plucks the herb or for whom it is intended.'* In one case the digger says, "This is the herb Argemon which Minerva discovered was a remedy for swine who taste it." ^ In another case one should salute the plant and extract its juice before saying a word ; thus its virtue will be much greater.^ In other cases, as an offering to appease the earth, the soil about the plant is soaked with hydromel three months before plucking it, or the hole left by pulling it up is filled with different kinds of grain.'' Sometimes one sacrifices beforehand with bread and wine or prays to the gods for permission to gather the herb.^ The customs of the Druids in gathering herbs are mentioned more than once.^ In gathering the sacred mis- tletoe on the sixth day of the moon they hold sacrifices and a banquet beneath the tree.-^*' Two white bulls are the vic- tims ; a priest clad in white cuts the mistletoe with a golden sickle and receives it in a white cloak. ^^ To Pliny's discussion of herbs we may append some Agri- specimens of the employment of magic procedure in agri- magic. culture and of the superstitions of the peasantry in which his pages abound. To guard against diseases of grain the seeds before planting should be steeped in wine, the juice of a certain herb, the gall of a cow, or human urine, or ^ XXI. 19; XXV, 21, 94. « XXV, 92. xxvn"'-^ ^'' ^'' ^^^^' ^' '^^^' '9= ^^^' "• 'XXI, 83; XXV, 109; XXVI, [XXIV, 62; XXV, 21. 12. "XXIV, 62-63. *XXII, 16; XXIII, 54; XXIV, "XVI, 95. 82; XXVII, 113. "See XXIV, 6, for other "XXIV, 116. methods of plucking the mistletoe. 8o MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.^ should be touched with the shoulders of a mole ^ — the ani- mal whose use by the magi we heard Pliny ridicule. One should sow at the moon's conjunction. Before the field is hoed, a frog should be carried around it and then buried in the center in an earthen vessel. But it should be disin- terred before harvest lest the millet be bitter. Birds may be kept away from the grain by planting in the four cor- ners of the field an herb whose name is unfortunately un- known to Pliny. ^ Mice are kept out by the ashes of a weasel, mildew by laurel branches, caterpillars by placing the skull of a female beast of burden upon a stick in the garden.^ To ward off fogs and storms from orchards and vineyards a frog may be buried as directed above, or live crabs may be burnt in the trees, or a painted grape may be consecrated.'* Suspending a frog in the granary preserves the corn stored there.^ To keep wolves away catch one, break its legs, attach it to the ploughshare, and thus scatter its blood about the boundaries of the field; then bury the carcass at the starting-point.® Or consecrate at the altar of the Lar the ploughshare with which the first furrow was traced. Foxes will not touch poultry who have eaten the dried liver of a fox or who wear a bit of its skin about their necks. Fern will not spring up again if it is mowed with the edge of a reed or uprooted by a ploughshare upon which a reed has been placed.''^ Of the use of incantations in agriculture we shall treat later. Virtues Pliny appears to have much less faith in the possession of marvelous virtues by gems than by herbs and parts of ani- mals. He not only characterizes the powers attributed to gems by the magi and Democritus and Pythagoras as "ter- rible lies" and "unspeakable nonsense" ; ^ but refrains from mentioning many such himself or inserts a cautious "if we believe it" or "if they tell the truth." ^ Of the gem 'XVIII, 45. " XXVIII, 81. * See also XXV, 6. 1 yvtTT R a YTV i-Q ' *xviii 70 " XXXVII, 14, 73. 'XVIII. 73. • XXXVII, 55-56. metals. II PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY 8i supposed to be produced from the urine of the lynx he says, "I think that this is quite false and no gem of that name has been seen in our time. What is stated concerning its medicinal virtue is also false." ^ To other stones, how- ever, he ascribes various medicinal virtues, either when taken pulverized in drink or when worn as amulets.^ A few other occult properties are stated without reservation, as that amiantus resists all sorceries,^ that adamant expels idle fears from the mind, that 'sideritis produces discord and litigation, and that eumeces, placed beneath one's pillow at night, causes oracular visions."* Magnets are said to differ in sex, and the belief of Theophrastus and Mucianus.is re- peated that certain stones bear offspring.^ Of the metals iron sometimes figures in Pliny's magical 0*1^^^ _ ° •' ° , minerals procedure, as when he either prescribes or taboos the use of it and in cutting herbs or killing animals. In Arcadia the yew-tree is a fatal poison to persons sleeping beneath it, but driving a copper nail into the tree makes it harmless.® Pliny says that gold is medicinal in many ways and in particular is applied to wounded persons and to infants as a safeguard against witchcraft.'^ Earth itself is often used to work marvels, but usually some particular portion, such as that between cart ruts or that thrown up by ants, beetles, and moles, or in the right footprint where one first heard a cuckoo sing.^ However, the rule that an object should not touch the ground is enforced in many other connections ^ than the plucking of herbs, and Pliny twice states that the earth will not permit a serpent who has stung a human be- ing to re-enter its hole.^° In his discussion of metals Pliny does not allude to transmutation or alchemy, unless it be in his accounts of various fraudulent practices of workers in metal and how Caligula extracted gold from orpiment. But the following directions for preparing antimony show how 'XXXVII, 13. 'XXXVI, 25, 39. 'For instance, XXXVII, 12 'XVI, 20. amber, 37 jasper, 39 aetites, 55 ' XXXIII, 25. "baroptenus." ' XXX, 12, 25. •XXXVI, 31. "XX, 3; XXVIII, 6, 9; etc. ♦XXXVII, IS. 58, 67. "II, 63; XXIX, 23. 82 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Virtues of human parts. Virtues of human saliva. closely akin to magic the procedure in ancient metallurgy might be. The antimony should be coated with cow-flap and burnt in furnaces, then quenched in woman's milk and pounded in mortars with an admixture of rain-water.^ Various parts and products of the human body are credited with remarkable virtues as the mention just made of woman's milk suggests. Other passages recommend more especially the milk of a woman just delivered of a male child, but most of all that of the mother of twins.^ Sed nihil facile reperiatur mulierimi profluvio magis mon- strificum, as Pliny proceeds to illustrate by numerous ex- amples.^ Great virtues are also attributed to the urine, par- ticularly of a chaste boy.* A few other instances of rem- edies drawn from the human body are ear-wax or a pow- dered tooth against stings of scorpions and bites of snakes,^ a man's hair for the bite of a dog, the first hairs from a boy's head for gout.® Diseases of women are prevented by wearing constantly in a bracelet the first tooth a boy loses, provided it has not touched the ground. Simply tying two fingers or toes together is recommended for tumors in the groin, catarrh, and sore eyes.'^ Or the eyes may be touched thrice with water in which the feet have been washed. Scrofula and throat diseases may be cured by the touch of the hand of one who has died an early death, although some authorities do not insist upon the circumstance of early death but direct that the corpse be of the same sex as the patient and that the diseased spot be touched with the back of the left dead hand. Of all fluids and excretions of the human body the saliva is perhaps used most often in ancient and medieval medicine, as the custom of spitting once or thrice in administering other remedies or performing ceremonies goes to prove. The spittle of a fasting person is the more efficacious. In a chapter devoted particularly to the properties of human * XXXIII, 34- 18-19. »XX, 51; XXVIII, 21. ^ XXVIII, 8. •VII, 13; XXVIII, 23. 'XXVIII, 9- *XX, Z2\ XXII, 30; XXVIII, 'XXVIII, 9-11. II PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY 83 saliva Pliny lists many diseases and woes which it allevi- ates.^ In this connection he makes the following absurd assertion which he nevertheless declares is easily tested by experiment. "If a person repents of a blow given from a distance or hand-to-hand, let him spit into the palm of the hand with which he struck, and the person who has been struck will feel no resentment. This is often proved by beasts of burden who are induced to mend their pace by this method after the use of the whip has failed." Pliny adds, however, that some persons try to increase the force of their blows by thus spitting on the hands beforehand. He also mentions as counter-charms against sorcery the practices of spitting into one's urine or right shoe, or when crossing a dangerous spot. The importance of the human operator as a factor in The the performance of marvels, be they medical or magical, is operator, attested by the frequent injunctions of chastity, virginity, nudity, or a state of fasting upon persons concerned in Pliny's procedure. Sometimes they are not to glance be- hind them, sometimes they are to speak to no one during the operation. Pliny also mentions men who have a special capacity for wonder-working, such as Pyrrhus, the touch of whose toe had healing power,^ those whose eyes exert strong fascination, whole tribes of serpent-charmers and venom- curers, and others whose mere presence addles the eggs be- neath a setting hen.^ The power of words spoken by men will be considered separately under the head of incantations. While Pliny attributes the most extreme medicinal vir- Absence of tues to simples, he excludes from his Natural History the ^^-^^ strange and elaborate compounds which were nevertheless pounds, so popular in the pharmacy of his age. Of one simple, laser, he says that it would be an immense task to attempt to list all the uses that it is supposed to have in compounds.* His position is that the simple remedies alone are the direct work of nature, while the mixtures, tablets, pills, plasters, * XXVIII, 7. " XXVIII, 6. *VII, 2. "XXII, 49. 84 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Sympa- thetic magic. Antipa- thies between animals. washes are artificial inventions of the apothecaries. Once when he describes a compound called "Hermesias" which aids in the generation of good and beautiful children, it seems to be borrowed by Democritus from the magi} Fur- thermore, Pliny thinks that health can be sufficiently pre- served or restored by nature's simple remedies. Com- pounds are the invention of human conjecture, avarice, and impudence. Such conjecture is often false, not sufficiently taking into account the natural sympathies and antipathies of the numerous ingredients. Often compounds are inex- plicable. Pliny also deplores resort to imported drugs from India, Arabia, and the Red Sea, when there are homely remedies at hand for the poorest man.^ We have just heard Pliny refer to the sympathies and antipathies of natural simples, and he often explains the marvelous effects of natural objects upon one another by this relation of love and hatred, friendship or repugnance, discord or concord which exists between them, which the Greeks call sympathy or antipathy, and which Heracleitus was perhaps the first philosopher to insist upon.^ Some modern students of magic have tried to account for all magic on this theory, and Pliny states that medicine and medicines originated from it.* This relationship exists between animals, — deer and snakes, for example. So great a force is it that stags track snakes to their holes and extract them thence despite all resistance by the power of their breath. This antipathy continues after death, for the sovereign remedy for snake- bite is the rennet of a fawn killed in its mother's womb, while serpents flee from a man who wears the tooth of a deer. But antipathy may change to sympathy, for Pliny adds that in some cases certain parts of deer treated in cer- tain ways attract serpents.^ This force of antipathy is in- *XXIV, 102. 'In this paragraph I have com- bined views expressed by Pliny in three different passages : XXII, 49 and 56; XXIV, i. "IX, 88; XXIV, i; XXVIII, 23; XXXII, 12; XXXVII, 15; etc. *XXIV, i; XXIX, 17. •VIII. so; XXVIII. 42. II PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY 85 deed capable of taking the strangest turn. Bed-bugs, foul and disgusting as they are, heal the bite of snakes, especially asps, and sows can eat the poisonous salamander.^ The an- tipathy between goats and snakes would seem almost as potent as that between deer and snakes,^ since we are told that snake-bitten persons recover more quickly, if they fre- quent the stalls where goats are kept or wear as an amulet the paunch of a she-goat. There is also "the hatred and friendship of deaf and insensible things." ^ Instances are the magnet's attraction for iron and the fact that adamant can be broken only by the blood of a he-goat, two stock examples of occult influ- ence and natural marvels which continued classic in the medieval period.'* Pliny indeed regards this last as the clearest illustration possible of the potency of sympathy and antipathy, since a substance which defies iron and fire, nature's two most violent agents, yields to the blood of a foul animal.^ There is furthermore sympathy and antipathy between animate and inanimate objects. So marvelous is the antip- athy of the tamarisk tree for the spleen alone of internal organs, that pigs who drink from troughs of this wood are found when slaughtered to be without spleen, and hence splenetic patients are fed from vessels of tamarisk.^ The spleenless pig, it may be interpolated, is another common- place of ancient and medieval science. Smearing the hives with cow dung kills other insects but stimulates the bees who have an affinity for it {cognatmn hoc iis),'^ probably, although Pliny does not say so, on the theory that they are 'XXIX, 17 and 23. 'XXVIII, 43- *XX, I. "Odia amicitiaque re- rum surdarum ac sensu carentium . . . quod Graeci sympathiam ap- pellavere." XXIV, i. "Surdis etiam rerum sua cuique sunt venena ac minimis quoque . . • Concordia valent." * XXVIII, 41; XXXVII, 15. Yet a note in Bostock and Riley's translation, IV, 207, asserts, "Pliny is the only author who makes mention of this singularly absurd notion." ""Nunc quod totis voluminibus his docere conati summus de dis- cordia rerum concordiaque quam antipathiam Graeci vocavere ac sympathiam non aliter clarius in- telligi potest." "XXIV, 41. 'XXI, 47. Love and hatred between inanimate objects. Sympathy between animate and inani- mate ob- jects. 86 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. spontaneously generated from it. That the wild cabbage is hostile to dogs is evidenced by the statement of Epicharmus that it cures the bite of a mad dog but kills a dog if he eats it when given to him with meat.^ Snakes hate the ash-tree so, that if they are hemmed in by its foliage on one side and fire on the other, they flee by preference into the flames.^ Betony, too, is so antipathetic to snakes that they lash them- selves to death when a circle of it is drawn about them.^ Scorpions cannot survive in the air of Sicily.* Perhaps antipathy is also the explanation of Pliny's absurd state- ment that loads of apples and pears, even if there are only a few of them, are very heavy for beasts of burden.^ Here, however, the condition may be remedied and perhaps a re- lationship of sympathy established by showing the beasts how few fruit there really are or by giving them some to eat. That sympathy may even attach to places or religious circumstances Pliny infers from the belief that the priestess of the earth at Aegira, when about to descend into the cave and predict, drinks without injury bull's blood which is sup- posed to be a fatal poison.^ Like cures That like cures like, or more precisely and paradoxically ^^^- that the cause of the disease will cure its own result, is an- other notion which Pliny's medicine shares with magic. This is seen in the use of parts of the mad dog to cure its bite,'^ or in rubbing thighs chafed by horse-back riding with the foam from a horse's mouth.® The bite of the shrew- mouse, too, is best healed by imposition of the very animal which bit you, but another shrew-mouse will do and they are kept ready in oil and mud for this purpose.^ The sting of the phalangium may be cured by merely looking at an- other insect of that species, whether it be dead or alive. From cases in which the cure for the disease is identical with its cause it is but a short step to remedies similar to *XX. 36. « XXVIII, 41. ^XVI, 24. ^xxix, 32. 'XXV, 55. " XXVIII, 61. *XXXVII, 54. "XXIX, 27. ■^ XXIII, 62; XXIV. I. II PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY 87 or in some way associated with the ailment. It seems ob- vious to PHny that stone in the bladder can be broken by the herb on which grow what look exactly like pearls. "In the case of no other herb is it so evident for what medicine it is intended; its species is such that it can be recognized at once by sight without book knowledge."^ Similarly ophites, a marble with serpentine streaks, is used as an amu- let against snake-bite.^ Mithridates discovered that the blood of Pontic ducks should be mixed in antidotes because they live on poison.^ Heliotrope seed looks like a scorpion's tail ; if scorpions are touched with a sprig of heliotrope they die, and they will not enter ground which has been circum- scribed by it.^ To accelerate a woman's delivery her lover should take off his belt and gird her with it, then untie it, saying that he has bound her and will unloose her, and then he should go away.^ An epileptic may be cured by driving an iron nail into the spot where his head rested when he fell in the fit.^ Other instances of association are when the remedy em- The prirv ploved is some part of an animal who is free from the disease '^'P^^ ?^ , -^ . ^ . • associa- in question or marked by an opposite state of health. Goats tion. and gazelles never have ophthalmia, hence various portions of their bodies are prescribed for eye diseases.'^ Eagles can gaze at the sun, therefore their gall is efficacious in eye- salves.^ The bird called ossifrage has a single intestine which digests anything; the end of this intestine serves as an amulet against colic, and indigestion may be cured by merely holding the crop of the bird in one hand.^ But do not hold it too long or your flesh will waste away. The virus of mares is an ingredient in a candle which makes heads of horses seem to appear when it burns ; ^® while ink of the sepia is used in a candle which causes Ethiopians to be seen when it is lighted.^^ These magic candles are borrowed ^ XXVII, 74. •'XXVIII, 47. ^ XXXVI, II. 8 XXIX 38 ^XXIl'io " XXX, 20. »XXVilf:'9. "XXVIII, 49. •■ XXVIII, 17. "XXXII, 52. 88 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap, by Pliny from the works of Anaxilaus, and we shall find them a feature of medieval collections of experiments. Earth from a cart-wheel rut is thought a remedy against the bite of the shrew-mouse because that creature is too tor- pid to cross such a rut ; ^ and Pliny believes that none of the virtues attributed to moles by the magicians is more probable than that they are an antidote to the bite of the shrew-mouse, which shuns even ruts, whereas moles burrow freely through the soil.^ Pliny finds incredible the assertion made by some that a ship will move more slowly if it has the right foot of a tortoise aboard,^ but the logic of the magic seems evident enough. Magic In Pliny's medicine there are a number of examples of of disease, what may be called magic transfer, in which the aim of the procedure is not to cure the disease outright but to rid the patient of it by transferring it from him to some other ani- mal or object. Intestinal disease may be transferred to puppies who have not yet opened their eyes by pressing them to the body and giving them milk from the patient's mouth. They will die of the disease, when its cause and exact nature may be determined by dissecting them. But finally they must be buried.* Griping pains in the bowels will also pass to a duck that is held against the abdomen. One may be rid of a cough by spitting in a frog's mouth or cure catarrh by kissing a mule,^ although in these cases we are left unin- formed whether the disease passes to the animal. But if a person who has been stung by a scorpion whispers the news in the ear of an ass, the ill will be transferred to the ass.® A boil may be removed by rubbing nine grains of barley around it, each grain thrice with the left hand, and then throwing them all into the fire.^ Warts are banished by touching each with a grain of the chickpea and then tying the grains up in a linen cloth and throwing them behind one.^ If a root of asphodel is applied to sores and then hung * XXIX, 27. " XXXII, 29; XXX, II. "XXX. 7. • XXVIII, 42. 'XXXII, 14. 'XXII, 65. *XXX, 20 and 14. " XXII, 72. II PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY 89 up in smoke, the sores will dry up along with the root.^ To cure scrofulous sores some bind on as many earthworms as there are sores and let them dry up together.^ A tooth will cease aching if the herb erigeron is dug up with iron and the patient thrice alternately touches the tooth with the root and spits, and if he then replaces the herb in the same spot and it lives. ^ If this last is a case of magic trans- fer, perhaps we may trace the same notion in some of the numerous instances in which Pliny directs that an animal shall be released alive after some part of it has been removed or some other medicinal use made of it. A common characteristic of magic force and occult vir- Amulets, tue is that it will often act at a distance or without any physical contact or direct application. This is manifested in the practice of carrying or wearing amulets, or, what is the same thing, of ligatures and suspensions, in which ob- jects are hung from the neck or bound to some part of the body in order to ward off danger from without or cure internal disease. Instances of such practices in the Natural History are well nigh innumerable. Roots are suspended from the neck by a thread ; ^ the tongue of a fox is worn in a bracelet ; ^ for quinsy the throat is wound thrice with a thong of dog-skin and catarrh is relieved by winding the same about the fingers.^ A tooth stops aching when worms are taken from a certain prickly plant, put with some bread in a pill-box, and bound to the arm on the same side of the body as the aching tooth."^ Two bed-bugs bound to the left arm in wool stolen from shepherds are a charm against noc- turnal fevers; against diurnal fevers, if wrapped in russet cloth instead.® The heart of a vulture is an amulet against snakes, wild beasts, robbers, and royal wrath.^ The trav- eler who carries the herb artemisia feels no fatigue.^*' In- jurious drugs cannot cross one's threshold and do injury in 'XXII, 32. «xxx, 12, 15. 'XXX, 12. 'XXVII, 62. "XXV, 106. 'XXIX, 17. *XX, 8r. "XXIX. 24. 'XXVIII, 47. "XXVI. 89. 90 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. one's household, if a sea-star is smeared with the blood of a fox and attached to the lintel or door-post with a copper nail.^ Not only is a wreath of herbs worn for headache,^ but a sprig of poplar held in the hand prevents chafing be- tween the thighs.^ Often objects are placed under one's pillow, especially for insomnia,* but any psychological ef- fect is precluded in the case where this is to be done without the patient's knowledge.^ All sorts of specifications are given as to the color and kind of string, cloth, skin, box, nail, ring, bracelet, and the like in which should be placed, or with which should be bound on, the various gems, herbs, and parts of animals which serve as amulets. But when we are told that a remedy for headache which always helps many consists of a little bone from a snail found between two cart ruts, passed through gold, silver, and ivory, and attached to the body with dog-skin; or that one may bind on the head with a linen cloth the head of a snail decapitated with a reed when feeding in the morning especially at full moon ; ^ we feel that we have passed beyond mere amulets, ligatures, and suspensions to more elaborate minutiae of magic procedure. Positioner Position or direction is often an important matter in Pliny's, as in magic, ceremonial. It perhaps comes out most frequently in his specification of right or left. An aching tooth should be scarified with the left eye-tooth of a dog; a spider which is placed with oil in the ear should be caught with the left hand;''' epilepsy may be cured if a virgin touches the sufferer with her right thumb ; ^ for ophthalmia of the right eye suspend the right eye of a frog from the patient's neck, and the left eye for the left eye;^ for lum- bago tear off an eagle's feet away from the joint, and use the right foot for the right side and the left for pain in the left side.^*' But we have met other examples already, and 'XXXII, i6; also XX, 39. "XXIX, 36. 'XXII, 30. 'XXX, 8. "XXIV, 32, 38. " XXVIII, 10. *XX, 72, 82. " XXXII, 24. "XXVI, 69. '"XXX, 18. direction. 11 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY 91 also cases of the use of the upper or lower part of this or that according to the corresponding location of an aching tooth in the upper or lower jaw.^ Tracing circles with and about objects, facing towards this or that point of the com- pass, the prohibition against glancing behind one, and the stress laid upon finding things or killing animals between the ruts of cart wheels, are other examples of taking into consideration position and direction which we have already met with incidentally to the treatment of other topics. The prescription of a plant which has grown on the head of a statue and of another which has taken root in a sieve thrown into a hedge - also seem to take mere position largely into account, more so than the accompanying recommendation of an herb growing on the banks of a stream and of another growing upon a dunghill.^ The element of time is also important. Operations should '^,^^ **™® 1 • element, be performed before sunrise, early in the mornmg, at night, and so on. The moon is especially regarded in such direc- tions.^ When we are informed that sufferers from quartan fever should be rubbed all over with the fat of a tortoise, we are also told that the tortoise will be fattest on the fif- teenth day of the moon and that the patient should be anointed on the sixteenth.^ But this waxing and waning of the tortoise with the moon is primarily a matter of astrology and planetary influence, under which heading we shall also later speak of Pliny's observance of the rising of the dog- star. Observance of number is another feature in Pliny's cere- Observ- monial, of which we have already met instances. He also n"^ber alludes to the writings of Pythagoras on the subject and as- cribes to Democritus a work on the number four. Pliny's recipes frequently recommend that the operation be thrice repeated. In the case of curing scrofula by the ashes of vipers he prescribes three fingers thereof taken in drink for 'See also XXX, 8. 75, 79; XXII, 72; XXIII, 71; 'XXIV, 106 and 109. XXVIII, 47; XXIX, 36; XXXII, ^XXIV, 107 and no. 14, 2^, 38, 46. 'Some examples are: XVIII, ° XXXII. 14. 92 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE CHAP. Relation between operator and patient. Incanta- tions. thrice seven days.^ In another application of a Gallic herb with old axle-grease which has not touched iron, not only must the patient spit thrice to the right, but the remedy is more efficacious if three men representing three different nations anoint the right side with it.^ The virtue of the number one is not, however, entirely slighted. Importance is attached to the death of a stag from a single wound.^ Sometimes three and one are joined in the same operation, as when child-birth is aided by hurling through the hoiise a stone or weapon by which three animals, a man, a boar, and a bear, have been killed with single blows. One of the discoveries of Pythagoras which seldom fails is that an odd number of vowels in a child's given name portends lame- ness, blindness, and like incapacitation on the right side of its body, and an even number, injuries on the left side.'* In a crown of smilax for headache there should be an odd number of leaves,^ and in a diet of snails prescribed for stomach trouble an odd number are to be eaten. ^ For a head-wash ten green lizards are boiled in ten sextarii of oil,"^ and for an application to prevent eyelashes from grow- ing again when they have been pulled out fifteen frogs are impaled on fifteen bulrushes.^ The person who has tied on a certain amulet is thereafter excluded from the patient's sight for five days.^ And so on. This last item suggests a further intangible factor in Pliny's procedure, the doing of things to or for the patient without his knowledge. But this and any other incorporeal relationships existing between operator and patient should perhaps be classed under the head of sympathy and an- tipathy. Closely akin to the power of numljers is that of words. Pliny once says of an incantation employed to avert hail- storms that he would not dare in seriousness to insert its 'XXX, 12. 'XXIV, 112. "VIII, so. * XXVIII, 6. "XXIV, 17. •XXX, 15. ' XXIX, 34. » XXXII, 24. » XXXII, 38. II PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY 93 words, although Cato in his work on agriculture prescribed a similar formula of meaningless words for the cure of frac- tured limbs. ^ But Pliny does not object to the repetition of incantations or prayers if the words spoken have some meaning. He informs us that ocimum is sown with curses and maledictions and that when cummin seed is rammed down into the soil, the sowers pray it not to come up.^ In another case the sower is to be naked and to pray for him- self and his neighbors.^ In a third case in which a poultice is to be applied to an inflammatory tumor, Pliny says that persons of experience regard it as very important that the poultice be put on by a naked virgin and that both she and the patient be fasting. Touching the sufferer with the back of her hand she is to say, "Apollo forbids a disease to in- crease which a naked virgin restrains." Then, withdraw- ing her hand, she is to repeat the same words thrice and to join with the patient in spitting on the ground each time.* Indeed, in another passage Pliny states that it is the uni- versal custom in medicine to spit three times with incanta- tions.'^ Perhaps the power of the words is thought to be increased or renewed by clearing the throat. Words were also occasionally spoken in plucking herbs. Ring-worm or tetter is treated by spitting upon and rubbing together two stones covered with a dry white moss, and by repeating a Greek incantation which may be translated, "Flee, Cantha- rides, a wild wolf seeks your blood." ^ Abscesses and in- flammations are treated with the herb reseda and a Latin translation which seems irrelevant, if not quite senseless, and which may be translated, "Reseda, make disease recede. Don't you know, don't you know what chick has dug up these roots? May they have neither head nor feet." ^ In the book following this passage Pliny raises the general question of the power of words to heal diseases.^ He gives many in- stances of belief in incantations from contemporary popu- 'XVII, 47. ''XXVIII, 7. 'XIX, 36. "XXVII, 75- 'XVIII, 35. 'XXVII, 106. *XXVI. 60. • XXVIII. 3-4. 94 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE CHAP. Attitude to love- charms and birth- control. Pliny and astrology. lar superstition, from Roman religion, and from the annals of history. He does not doubt that Romans in the past have believed in the power of words, and thinks that if we accept set forms of prayer and religious formulae, we must also admit the force of incantations. But he adds that the wisest individuals believe in neither. Pliny's recipes and operations are mainly connected with either medicine or agriculture, but he also introduces as we have seen magical procedure employed in child-birth, safeguards against poisons and reptiles, and counter-charms against sorcery. He more than once avers that love-charms (amatoria) lie outside his province,^ in one passage alleging as a reason that the illustrious general Lucullus was killed by one," but he includes a great many of them nevertheless.^ Some herbs are so employed because of a resemblance in shape to the sexual organs,^ another instance of association by similarity. Pliny declared against abortive drugs as well as love-charms,^ but cited from the Commentaries of Caecil- ius one recipe for birth-control for the benefit of over-fecund women, consisting of a ligature of two little worms found in the body of a certain species of spider and bound on in deer-skin before sunrise. After a year the virtue of this charm expires.^ Pliny devotes but a small fraction of his work to the stars and heavens as against terrestrial phenomena, and therefore has less occasion to speak of astrology than of magic. However, had he been a great believer in astrology he doubtless would have devoted more space to the stars and their influence on terrestrial phenomena. He recognizes none the less, as we have seen, that magic and astrology are in- * XXVII, 35. "Catanancen Thessalam herbam qualis sit de- scribi a nobis supervacuum est, cum sit usus eius ad amatoria tantum." XXVII, 99. "Phyteuma quale sit describere supervacuum habeo cum sit usus eius tantum ad amatoria." *XXV, 7. "Ego nee abortiva dico ac ne amatoria quidem, memor Lucullum imperatorem clarissimum amatorio perisse . . ." ^A iew examples are: XX, 15, 84, 92; XXIV, II, 42; XXVI, 64; XXVII, 42, 99; XXVIII, 77, 80; XXX, 49; XXXII, so. *XXII, 9. "XXV, 7. • XXIX, 27. II PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY 95 timately related and that "there is no one who is not eager to learn his own future and who does not think that this is shown most truly by the heavens."^ Parenthetically it may be remarked that the general literature of the time only con- firms this assertion of the widespread prevalence of astrol- ogy; allusions of poets imply a technical knowledge of the art on their readers' part; the very emperors who occasion- ally banished astrologers from Rome themselves consulted other adepts. In another passage Pliny speaks of men who "assign events each to its star according to the rules of na- tivities and believe that God decreed the future once for all and has never interfered with the course of events since.^ This way of thinking has caught learned and vulgar alike in its current and has led to such further methods of divina- tion as those by lightning, oracles, haruspices, and even such petty auguries as from sneezes and shifting of the feet. Furthermore in Pliny's list of men prominent in the various arts and sciences we find Berosus of whom a statue was erected by the Athenians in honor of his skill in astrological prognostication.' In another place where he speaks for a moment of "the science of the stars" Pliny disputes the the- ories of Berosus, Nechepso, and Petosiris that length of human life is ordered by the stars, and also makes the trite objection to the doctrine of nativities tliat masters and slaves, kings and beggars are born at the same moment.* He also is rather inclined to ridicule the enormous figures of 720,000 or 490,000 years set by Epigenes and Berosus and Critodemus for the duration of astronomical observations recorded by the Babylonians.^ From such passages we get the impression that astrology is widely accepted as a science but that the art of nativities at least is not regarded by Pliny ^XXX, I. On the general atti- * II, 5. "Astroque suo eventus tude to astrology of the preceding adsignat nascendi legibus semel- Augustan Age and its poets see que in omnes futures umquam dec H. W. Garrod, Manili Astronomi- decretum in reliquom vero otium con Liber II, Oxford, 191 1, pp. datur." Ixv-lxxiii, but I think he overesti- ^ vil 2>7- mates the probable effect of the ^ ^' edict of 16 A.D. upon the poem of *^ ' 50- Manilius. ^VII, 57. " 96 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.^ with favor. But it would not be safe to say that he denies the control of the stars over human destiny. Indeed, in one chapter he declares that the astronomer Hipparchus can never be praised enough because more than any other man he proved the relationship of man with the stars and that our souls are part of the sky.^ When Pliny disputes the vulgar notion that each man has a star varying in bright- ness according to his fortune, rising when he is born, and fading or falling when he dies, he is not attacking even the doctrine of nativities; he is denying that the stars are con- trolled by man's fate rather than that man's life is ordered by the stars. ^ Celestial j£ pijj^y ^hus leaves us uncertain as to the relation of portents. ■' man to the stars, we also receive conflicting impressions from his discussion of various celestial phenomena regarded as portentous. In one passage he speaks of the debt of gratitude owed by mankind to those great astronomical geniuses who have freed men from their former supersti- tious fear of eclipses.^ But he explains thunderbolts as celestial fire vomited forth from the planet Venus and "bear- ing omens of the future." * He also gives instances from Roman history of comets which signaled disaster, and he expounds the theory of their signifying the future.*^ What they portend may be determined from the direction in which they move and the heavenly body whose power they re- ceive, and more particularly from the shapes they assume and their position in relation to the signs of the zodiac. In- deed, Pliny even gives examples of ominous eclipses of the sun, although it is true that they were also of unusual length.^ He also tells us that many of the common people still believed that women could produce eclipses "by sor- ceries and herbs. '^ 'II, 24. "11, 9. MI, 6, "Non tanta caelo societas *II, 18. nobiscum est ut nostro fato mor- ' II, 23. talis sit ibi quoque siderum ful- "II, 30. gor." ' XXV, 5. II PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY 97 Aside from the question of the control of human des- The stars , . , ^,. , , , . and the tiny by the constellations at birth, Plmy s general theories world of of the universe and of the influence of the stars upon ter- nature, restrial nature are roughly similar to those of astrology. For him the universe itself is God, ''holy, eternal, vast, all in all, nay, in truth itself all;" ^ and the sun is the mind and soul of the whole world and the chief governor of na- ture.^ The planets affect one another. A cold star renders another approaching it pale; a hot star causes its neighbor to redden ; a windy planet gives those near it a lowering ap- pearance.^ At certain points in their orbits the planets are deflected from their regular course by the rays of the sun, — • an unwitting concession to heliocentric theory.* Pliny as- cribes the usual astrological qualities to the planets.^ Saturn is cold and rigid; Mars, a flaming fire; Jupiter, located be- tween them, is temperate and salubrious. Besides their ef- fects upon one another, the planets especially influence the earth.® Venus, for instance, rules the process of genera- tion in all terrestrial beings.''' Following the Georgics of Vergil somewhat, Pliny asserts that the stars give indubi- table signs of the weather and expounds the utility of the constellations to farmers.^ He tells how Democritus by his knowledge of astronomy was able to corner the olive crop and put to shame business men who had been decrying philosophy ; ^ and how on another occasion he gave his brother timely warning of an impending storm.^^ But Pliny does not accept all the theories of the astrologers as to con- trol of the stars over terrestrial nature. He repeats, but without definitely accepting it, the ascription by the Baby- lonians of earthquakes to three of the planets in particular,^^ and the notion that the gem sandastros or garamantica, em- 'II, I. " XVIII, 5, 57, 69. MI, 4. •XVIII, 68. Other authorities 'II, 16. tell the story of Thales; see *II, 13. Cicero, De divinatione, II, 201; *II, 6; and see II, 39. Aristotle, Poiit. I, 7; and Dioge- *II, 6. "Potentia autem ad ter- nes Laertius. ram magnopere eorum pertinens." "XVIII, 78. Ml, 6. "II, 81. 98 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Astrologi- cal medi- cine. Conclu- sion : magic unity of Pliny's su-T perstitions. ployed by Chaldeans in their ceremonies, is intimately con- nected with the stars. ^ He is openly incredulous about the gem glossopetra, shaped like a human tongue and supposed to fall from the sky during an eclipse of the moon and to be invaluable in selenomancy.^ Pliny tells how the physician Crinas of Marseilles made a fortune by regulating diet and observing hours according to the motion of the stars. ^ But he does not show much faith in astrological medicine himself, rejecting entirely the elaborate classification of diseases and remedies which the astrologers had by his time already worked out for the revolutions of the sun and moon in the twelve signs of the zodiac* In his own recipes, however, astrological consid- erations are sometimes observed, as we have already seen, especially the rising of the dog-star and the phases of the moon. Pliny, indeed, states that the dog-star exerts an ex- tensive influence upon the earth.'^ As for the moon, the blood in the human body augments and decreases with its waxing and waning as shell-fish and other things in nature do.^ Indeed, painstaking men of research had discovered that even the entrails of the field-mouse corresponded in number to the days of the moon, that the ant stopped work- ing during the interlunar days, and that diseases of the eyes of certain beasts of burden also increased and decreased with the moon.'^ But on the whole Pliny's medicine and science do not seem nearly so immersed in and saturated with astrology as with other forms of magic. This gap was for the middle ages amply filled by the authority of Ptolemy, of whose belief in astrology we shall treat in the next chapter. We have tried to analyze the contents of the Natural History, bringing out certain main divisions and underly- ing principles of magic in Pliny's agriculture, medicine, and natural science. This is, however, an artificial and difficult * XXXVII, 28. ''II, 40. ^ XXXVII, 59. on 102 "XXIX, 5. ^^' ° • *XXX, 29. 'II, 41. II PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY 99 task, since it is not easy to sever materials from ceremonial or the virtues of objects from the relations of sympathy or antipathy between them. Often the same passage might serve to illustrate several points. Take for example the following sentence : "Thrasyllus is authority that nothing is so hostile to serpents as crabs ; swine who are stung cure themselves by this food, and when the sun is in Cancer, serpents are in pain." ^ Here we have at once antipathy, the remedies used by animals, the reasoning, characteristic of magic, from association and similarity, and the belief in astrology. And this confusion, to illustrate which a hundred other examples might be collected from the Natural His- tory, demonstrates how indissolubly interwoven are all the varied threads that we have been tracing. They all go naturally together, they belong to the same long period of thought, they represent the same stage in mental develop- ment, they all are parts of magic. ^ XXXII, 19. CHAPTER III SENECA AND PTOLEMY: NATURAL DIVINATION AND ASTROLOGY Seneca's Natural Questions — Nature study as an ethical substitute for existing religion — Limited field of Seneca's work — Marvels accepted, questioned, or denied — Belief in natural divination and astrology — Divination from thunder — Ptolemy — His two chief works — His mathe- matical method — Attitude towards authority and observation — The Optics — Medieval translations of Almagest — Tetrabiblos or Quadri- partitum — A genuine reflection of Ptolemy's approval of astrology — Validity of Astrology — Influence of the stars not inevitable — Astrology as natural science — Properties of the planets — Remaining contents of Book One — Book Two: regions — Nativities — Future influence of the Tetrabiblos. "When the stars twinkle through the loops of time." — Byron. Seneca's j^ ^j^jg chapter we shall preface the main theme of Ptolemy Questions, and his sanction of astrology by a consideration of another and earlier ancient writer on natural science who was very favorable to divination of the future, namely, the famous philosopher, statesman, man of letters, and tutor of Nero, Lucius Annaeus Seneca. In point of time his Natural Questions, or Problems of Nature, is a work slightly ante- dating even the Natural History of Pliny, but it is hardly of such importance in the history of science as the more voluminous works of the three great representatives of ancient science, Pliny, Galen, and Ptolemy. Nevertheless Seneca was well known and much cited in the middle ages as an ethical or moral philosopher, and the title. Natural Questions, was to be employed by one of the first medieval pioneers of natural science, Adelard of Bath. Seneca in any case is a name of which ancient science need not be ashamed. He tells us that in his youth he had already lOO CHAP. Ill SENECA AND PTOLEMY loi written a treatise on earthquakes ; ^ and in the present trea- tise his aim is to inquire into the natural causes of phenom- ena ; he wants to know why things are so. He is aware that his own age has only entered the vestibule of the knowledge of natural phenomena and forces, that it has but just begun to know five of the many stars, that "there will come a time when our descendants will wonder that we were ignorant of matters so evident." ^ In one passage Seneca perhaps expresses his conscious- study ness of the very imperfect scientific knowleds^e of his own °^ nature . as an ethi- age a little too mystically. 'There are sacred things which cal substi- are not revealed all at once. Eleusis reserves sights for existing those who revisit her. Nature does not disclose her mysteries religion, in a moment. We think ourselves initiated; we stand but at her portal. Those secrets open not promiscuously nor to every comer. They are remote of access, enshrined in the inner sanctuary." ^ Indeed, he shows a tendency to regard scientific research as a sort of religious exercise or perhaps as a substitute for existing religion and a basis for moral philosophy. He relates physics to ethics. His enthusiasm in the study of natural forces appears largely due to the fact that he believes them to be of a sublime and divine character and above the petty affairs of men. He also as constantly and more fulsomely than Pliny inveighs against the luxury, vice, and immorality of his own day, and moralizes as to the beneficent influence which natural law and phenomena should exert upon human conduct. It is interesting to note that this habit of drawing moral lessons from the facts of nature was not peculiar to medieval or Christian writers. With such subjects as zoology, botany, and mineralogy- Seneca's work has little to do; it does not, like Pliny's ^ L. Anyiaei Senecac Naturalium Teubner edition, ed. Haase, 1881, Quacstionum Libri Scptem, VI, and the English translation in 4, "Aliquando de motu terrarum Clark and Geikie, Physical Science volumen iuvenis ediderim." The in the Time of Nero, 1910. In edition by G. D. Koeler, Gottingen, Panckoucke's Library, vol. 147, a 1819, devotes several hundred French translation accompanies pages to a Disquisitio and Ani- the text. madvcrsiones upon Seneca's work. ^VII, 25. I have also used the more recent ^VII, 31. 102 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Limited Natural History, include medicine and the industrial arts; Seneca's neither does he, like Pliny, cite the lore of the magi. The work. phenomena of which he treats are mainly meteorological manifestations, such as winds, rain, hail, snow, comets, rain- bows, and what he regards as allied subjects, earthquakes, springs, and rivers. Perhaps he would not have regarded the study of vegetables, animals, and minerals as so lofty and sublime a pursuit. At any rate, in consequence of the restricted field which Seneca covers we find very little of the marvelous medicinal and magical properties of plants, animals, and other objects, or the superstitious procedure which fill the pages of Pliny. Marvels Seneca nevertheless has occasion to repeat some tall questioned, stories, such as that the river Alpheus of Greece reappears or denied, as the Arethusa in Sicily and there every four years casts up filth from its depths on the very days when victims are slaughtered at the Olympic games. ^ He also affirms that living beings are generated in fire; he believes in such ef- fects of lightning as removing the venom from snakes which it strikes; and he recounts the old stories of floating islands and of waters with the virtue of turning white sheep black. ^ On the other hand, he qualifies by the phrases, *'it is believed" and "they say," the assertions that certain waters produce foul skin-diseases and that dew in particu- lar, if collected in any quantity, has this evil property; and he doubts whether bathing in the Nile would enable a woman to bear more children.^ He ridicules the custom of the city which had public watchmen appointed to warn the in- habitants of the approach of hail-storms, so that they might avert the danger by timely sacrifice or simply by pricking their own fingers so that they bled a trifle. He adds that some suggest that blood may possess some occult property of repelling storm-clouds, but he does not see how there can be such force in a drop or two and thinks it simpler to * III, 26. by lightning; III, passim for mar- * V, 6, for animals generated in velous fountains, flames; II, 31, for snakes struck * III, 25. Ill SENECA AND PTOLEMY 103 regard the whole thing as false. In the same chapter he states that uncivilized antiquity used to believe that rain could be brought on or driven off by incantations, but that now-a-days no one needs a philosopher to teach him that this is impossible. ■*■ But while he thus rejects incantations and is practically Belief in silent on the subject of natural magic, Seneca accepts nat- Jjf^^'JJ'^/joj^ ural divination in well-nigh all its branches: sacrificial, au- and gury, astrology, and divination from thunder. He believes ^^ ""^ °^' that whatever is caused is a sign of some future event. ^ Only Seneca holds that every flight of a bird is not caused by a direct act of God, nor the vitals of the victim altered under the axe by divine interference, but that all has been prearranged in a fatal and causal series.^ He believes that all unusual celestial phenomena are to be looked upon as prodigies and portents. A meteor "as big as the moon ap- peared when Paulus was engaged in the war against Per- seus" ; similar portents marked the death of Augustus and execution of Sejanus, and gave warning of the death of Germanicus.* But no less truly do the planets in their un- varying courses signify the future. The stars are of divine nature, and we ought to approach the discussion of them with as reverent an air as when with lowered countenance we enter the temples for worship.^ Not only do the stars influence the upper atmosphere as earth's exhalations af- fect the lower, but they announce what is to occur.^ Seneca employs the statement of Aristotle that comets signify the coming of storms and winds and foul weather to prove that they are stars ; and declares that a comet is a portent of bad weather during the ensuing year in the same way that the Chaldeans or astrologers say that a man's natal star deter- mines the whole course of his life.'' In fact, Seneca's chief, if not sole, objection to the Chaldeans or astrologers would seem to be that in their predictions they take only five ;iV, 7. "VII, 30. II, 32. 6TT ^f, ' II, 46. ^^' ^°- *I, I. 'VII, 28. 104 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Divination from thunder Ptolemy. stars ^ into account. "What ? Think you so many thousand stars shine on in vain? What else, indeed, is it which causes those skilled in nativities to err than that they assign us to a few stars, although all those that are above us have a share in the control of our fate? Perhaps those which are nearer direct their influence upon us more closely; perhaps those of more rapid motion look down on us and other animals from more varied aspects. But even those stars that are motionless, or because of their speed keep equal pace with the rest of the universe and seem not to move, are not with- out rule and dominion over us." - Seneca accepts the theory of Berosus that whenever all the stars are in conjunction in the sign of Cancer there will be a universal conflagration, and a second deluge when they all unite in Capricorn.^ It is on thunderbolts as portents of the future that Sen- eca dwells longest, however.* "They give," he declares, "not signs of this or that event merely, but often announce a whole series of events destined to occur, and that by mani- fest decrees and ones far clearer than if they were set down in writing." ^ He will not accept, however, the theory that lightning has such great power that its intervention nullifies any previous and contradictory portents. He insists that divination by other methods is of equal truth, though pos- sibly of minor importance and significance. Next he at- tempts to explain how the dangers of which we are warned by divination may be averted by prayer, expiation, or sacri- fice, and yet the chain of events wrought by destiny not be broken. He maintains that just as we employ the services of doctors to preserve our health, despite any belief we may have in fate, so it is useful to consult a hanispex. Then he goes on to speak of various classifications of thunderbolts according to the nature of the warnings or encouragements which they bring. We pass on from Seneca to a later and greater exponent of natural science and divination, Ptolemy, in the follow- ^That is to say, five in addition 'III, 29. to the sun and the moon. *II, 31-SO. MI, 32. Ml, 32. Ill SENECA AND PTOLEMY lOS ing century. He was perhaps born at Ptolema'is in Egypt but lived at Alexandria. The exact years of his birth and death are unknown, and very little is recorded of his life or personality. The time when he flourished is sufficiently in- dicated, however, by the fact that his first recorded astro- nomical observation was in 127 and his last in 151 A. D. Thus most of his work was probably done during the reigns of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, but he appears to have lived on into the reign of Marcus Aurelius. His strictly scientific style scorns rhetorical devices and literary felici- ties, and while it is clear and correct, is dry and imper- sonal.^ Ptolemy's two chief works, the Geography in eight His two books, and 17 nadTjixatLKri avvra^Ls, or Almagest {al-neylaTT]) ^^^^g as the Arabs called it, in thirteen books, have been so often described in histories of mathematics, astronomy, geogra- phy, and discovery that such outline of their contents need not be repeated here. The erroneous Ptolemaic theories of a geocentric universe and of an earth's surface on which dry land preponderated are equally well known. What is more to the point at present is to note that one of these theories was so well fitted to actual scientific observations and the other was thought to be so similarly based, that they stood the test of theory, criticism, and practice for over a thou- sand years. ^ It should, however, be said that the Geography does not seem to have been translated into Latin until the *A complete edition of Ptol- Geschichte der griechischen Phi- emy's works has been in process losophie und Astrologie, 1894, in of publication since 1898 in the Jahrb. f. Philol. u. Pddagogik Teubner library by J. L. Heiberg Neue Folge, Suppl. Bd. 21. A and Franz Boll. They are also recent summary of investigation the authors of the most important and bibliography concerning Ptol- recent researches concerning emy is W. Schmid, Die Nachklas- Ptolemy. See Heiberg's discus- sische Periode der Griechischen sion of the MSS in the volumes Litteratur, 1913, pp. 717-24, in the of the above edition which have fifth edition of Christ, Gesch d thus far appeared ; his articles on Griech. Litt. the Latin translations of Ptolemy 'Some strictures upon Ptolemy m Hermes XLV (1910) 57ff, as a geographer are made by Sir and XLVI (1911) 206ff; but es- W. M. Ramsay, The Historical pecially Boll, ^tudien uber Clau- Geography of Asia Minor 1890 dtus Ptolcmdus. Ein Beitrag zur pp. 69-73. ' ' io6 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. His mathe- matical method. opening of the fifteenth century/ when Jacobus Angelus made a translation for Pope Alexander V, (1409-1410), which is extant in many manuscripts ^ as well as in print. ^ It therefore did not have the influence and fame in the Latin middle ages that the Almagest did or the briefer as- trological writings, genuine and spurious, current under Ptolemy's name. We may briefly state one or two of Ptolemy's greatest contributions to mathematical and natural science and his probable position in the history of experimental method. Perhaps of greater consequence in the history of science than any one specific thing he did was his continual reliance *Schmid would appear to be mistaken in saying that the Geog- raphy was already known in Latin and Arabic translation in the time of Frederick II (p. 718, "Seine in erster Linie die Astronomic, dann auch die Geographic und Har- monik betreffcnden Schriften haben sich nicht bloss im Orig- inaltcxt erhalten ; sic wurden auch friihzeitig von den Arabern iibcr- setzt und sind dann, ahnlich wie die Werke des Aristoteles, schon zur Zeit des Kaisers Friedrich II, noch ehe man sie im Urtext ken- nen lernte, durch lateinische, nach dem Arabischen gemachte Uber- setzungen ins Abendland ge- langt"), for in his own bibliog- raphy (p. 723) we read, "Geog- raphic . . . Friihste latein. Uber- setzung des Jacobus Angelus gedruckt Bologna, 1462." Appar- ently Schmid did not know the date of Angelus' translation. However, Duhem, III (1915) 417, also speaks as if the Geogra- phy were known in the thirteenth century: "les considerations em- pruntees a la Geographic dc Ptole- mee fournissent a Robert dc Lin- coln unc objection contre le mouve- ment de precession des equinoxes tel qu'il est define dans I'Alma- geste." See also C. A. Nallino, Al-Huwaricmi e il suo rifacimento delta geografia di Tolomeo, 1894, cited by Suter (iqm) viii-ix, for a geography in Arabic preserved at Strasburg which is based on Ptolemy's Geography. " In this Latin translation it is often entitled Cosmographia. Some MSS are: CLM 14583, 15th century, fols. 81-215, Cosmo- graphia Ptolomei a Jacobo An- gelo translata. Also BN 4801, 4802, 4803, 4804, 4838. Arsenal 981, in an Italian hand, is pre- sumably incorrectly dated as of the 14th century. This Jacobus Angelus was chan- cellor of the faculty of Mont- pellier in 1433 and is censured by Gerson in a letter for his super- stitious observance of days. ^ The several editions printed before 1500 seem to have consisted simply of this Latin translation, such as that of Bologna, 1462, and Vincentiae, 1475, and the Greek text to have been first published in 1507. Sec Justin Winsor, A Bibliography of Ptolemy's Geog- raphy, 1884, in Library of Har- vard Uitdversity, Bibliographical Contributions, No. 18: — a bibliog- raphy which deals only with printed editions and not with the MSS. According to Schmid, how- ever, the editio princeps of the Greek text was that of Basel, 1533- C. Miillcr's modern edition (Didot, 1883 and 1901) gives an unsatisfactory bare list of 38 MSS. See also G. M. Raidel, Commentatio critico-literaria de Claudii Ptolemaei Geographia eiusque codicibus, 17Z7' Ill SENECA AND PTOLEMY 107 upon mathematical method both in his astronomy and his geography. In particular may be noted his important con- tribution to trigonometry in his table of chords, which mod- em scholars have found correct to five decimal places, and his contribution to the science of cartography by his suc- cessful projection of spherical surfaces upon flat maps. Ptolemy based his two great works partly upon the re- Attitude suits already attained by earlier scientists, following Hip- authority parchus especially in astronomy and Marinus in geography, yofion ^^'^' He duly acknowledged his debts to these and other writers; praised Hipparchus and recounted, his discoveries; and where he corrected Marinus, did so with reason. But while Ptolemy used previous authorities, he was far from relying upon them solely. In the Geography he adds a good deal concerning the orient and northern lands from the reports of Roman merchants and soldiers. His intention was to re- peat briefly what the ancients had already made clear, and to devote his works chiefly to points which had remained ob- scure. His ideal was to rest his conclusions upon the surest possible observation ; and where such materials were meager, as in the case of the Geography, he says so at the start. He also recognized that delicate observations should be re- peated at long intervals in order to minimize the possibility of error. He devised and described some scientific instru- ments and conducted a long series of astronomical observa- tions. He anteceded Comte in holding that one should adopt the simplest possible hypothesis consistent with the facts to be explained. Besides some minor astronomical works and a treatise The on music which seems to be largely a compilation an im- ^^'*"- portant work on optics is ascribed to Ptolemy.^ It is the most experimental in method of his writings, although Alex- ander von Humboldt's characterization of it as the only work in ancient literature which reveals an investigator of nature _ ^L'ottica di Claudia Tolomco da Eugenio ammiraglio di Sicilia ridotta in latino, ed. Gilberto Govi, Turin, 1S85. io8 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. in the act of physical experimentation^ must be regarded as an exaggeration in view of our knowledge of the writings of other Alexandrines such as Hero and Ctesibius. As in the case of some of Ptolemy's other minor works, the Greek original is lost and also the Arabic text from which was presumably made the medieval Latin version which alone has come down to us. Yet there are at least sixteen manu- scripts of this Latin version still in existence.^ The trans- lation was made in the twelfth century by Eugene of Paler- mo, admiral of Sicily, whose name is attached to other translations and who was also the author of a number of Greek poems. ^ Heller states that the Optics was lost at the beginning of the seventeenth century but that manuscripts of it were rediscovered by Laplace and Delambre.^ At any rate the first of the five books is no longer extant, although Bridges thinks that Roger Bacon was acquainted with it in the thirteenth century.^ It dealt with the relations between the eye and light. In the second book conditions of visi- bility are discussed and the dependence of the apparent size of bodies upon the angle of vision. The third and fourth books deal with different kinds of mirrors, plane, convex, concave, conical, and pyramidical. Most important of all is the fifth and last book, in which dioptrics and refraction are discussed for the first and only time in any extant work of antiquity,^ provided the Optics has really come down in its present form from the time of Ptolemy. His authorship has been questioned because the subject of refraction is not mentioned in the Almagest, although even astronomical refraction is discussed in the Optics."^ De Morgan also * Schmid (1913) still cites it ^A. Heller, Geschichte der without qualification. Hammer- Physik von Aristoteles bis auf die Jensen has an article, Ptolemaios neucstc Zcit, 2 vols., Stuttgart, und Heron, in Hermes, XLVHI 1882- 1884. The statement sounds (1913) 224, et seq. a trifle improbable in view of the ' Haskins and Lockwood, The number of MSS still in existence. Sicilian Translators of the ^ Opus Mains, II, 7. Twelfth Century, in Harvard 'The Dioptra of Hero is really Studies in Classical Philology, geodetical. XXI (1910), 89. 'Govi (1885), p. 151. ^ Ibid., 89-94. Ill SENECA AND PTOLEMY 109 objects that the author of the Optics is inferior to Ptolemy in knowledge of geometry.^ Possibly a work by Ptolemy has received medieval additions, either Arabic or Latin, in the version now extant; maybe the entire fifth book is such a supplement. That works which were not Ptolemy's might be attributed to him in the middle ages is seen from the case of Hero's Catoptrica, the Latin translation of which from the Greek is entitled in the manuscripts Ptolemaei de spec- ulis? If there is, as in other parallel cases, the possibility that Medieval the medieval period passed off recent discoveries of its J^^^^ ^f own under the authoritative name of Ptolemy, there also Almagest. is the certainty that it made Ptolemy's genuine works very much its own. This may be illustrated by the case of the Almagest. On the verge of the medieval period the work was commented upon by Pappus and Theon at Alexandria in the fourth, and by Proclus in the fifth century. The Latin translation by Boethius is not extant, but the book was in great repute among the Arabs, was translated at Bagdad early in the ninth century and revised later in the same century by Tabit ben Corra. During the twelfth century it was translated into Latin both from the Greek and the Arabic. The translation most familiar in the middle ages was that completed at Toledo in 1175 by the famous trans- lator, Gerard of Cremona. There has recently been dis- covered, however, by Professors Haskins and Lockwood ^ a Sicilian translation made direct from the Greek text some ten or twelve years before Gerard's translation. There are * Ptolemy in Smith's Diction- gest, in Harvard Studies in Classi- ary of Greek and Roman Biog- cal Philology, XXI (1910) 75- raphy. 102. ^It was also so printed in C. H. Haskins, Further Notes Sphera cum commcntis, 1518: on Sicilian Translations of the "Explicit secundus et ultimus liber Tzvelfth Century, Ibid., XXIII, Ptolomei de Speculis. Completa 155-66. fuit eius translatio ultimo De- J. L. Heiberg, Eine mittelalter- cembris anno Christi 1269." liche Uebcrsetzung der Syntaxis ' C. H. Haskins and D. P. Lock- des Ptolemaios, in Hermes XLV wood, The Sicilian Translators of (1910) 57-66; and Noch einmal the Twelfth Century and the First die mittclaltcrliche Ptolemaios- Latin Version of Ptolemy's Alma- Uebersetznng, Ibid., XLVI, 207-16. no MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. The Tet- rabiblos or Quadripar- titum. A genuine reflec- tion of Ptolemy's approval of astrol- ogy. two manuscripts of this Sicilian translation in the Vatican and one at Florence, showing that it had at least some Ital- ian currency. Gerard's reputation and his many other astronomical and astrological translations probably account for the greater prevalence of his version, or possibly the theological opposition to natural science of which the anonymous Sicilian translator speaks in his preface had some effect in preventing the spread of his version. Of Ptolemy's genuine works the most germane to and significant for our investigation is his Tetrahihlos, Quadri- partitum-j or four books on the control of human life by the stars. It seems to have been translated into Latin by Plato of Tivoli in the first half of the twelfth century^ be- fore Almagest or Geography appeared in Latin. In the middle of the thirteenth century Egidius de Tebaldis, a Lombard of the city of Parma, further translated the com- mentary of Haly Heben Rodan upon the Quadripartitum.^ In the early Latin editions^ the text is that of the medieval translation; in the few editions giving a Greek text there is a different Latin version translated directly from this Greek text.* In the Tetrahihlos the art of astrology receives sanction and exposition from perhaps the ablest mathematician and closest scientific observer of the day or at least from one who seemed so to succeeding generations. Hence from that time on astrology was able to take shelter from any criti- cism under the aegis of his authority. Not that it lacked *Digby 51, 13th Century, fols. 79-114, "Liber iiii tractatuum Batolomei Alfalisobi in sciencia judiciorum astrorum. . . . Et per- fectus est eius translatio de Arabico in Latinum a Tiburtino Platone cui Deus parcat die Veneris hora tertia XXa die mensis Octobris anno Domini MCXXVIII {sic) XV die mensis Saphar anno Arabum DXXXIII {sic) in civitate Barchinona. . . ." The date of translation is given as October 2, 1138, in CUL 1767, 1276 A.D., fols. 240-76, "Liber 4 Partium Ptholomei Auburtino Palatone." ^ It is found in an edition printed at Venice in 1493, "per Bonetum locatellum impensis nobilis viri Octaviani scoti civis Modoetien- sis." * In the British Museum are edi- tions of Venice, 1484, 1493, 1519; Paris, 1519; Basel, 1533; Louvain, 1548; it was also printed in 1551, 1555, 1578- * In the British Museum are but three editions of the Greek text, all with an accompanying Latin translation : Niirnberg, 1535 ; Basel, 1553; and 1583. Ill SENECA AND PTOLEMY iii other exponents and defenders of great name and ability. Naturally the authenticity of the Tetrabiblos has been ques- tioned by modern admirers of Hellenic philosophy and sci- ence who would keep the reputations of the great men of the past free from all smudge of superstition. But Franz Boll has shown that it is by Ptolemy by a close comparison of it with his other works. ^ The astrological Centiloquium or Karpos, and other treatises on divination and astrologi- cal images ascribed to Ptolemy in medieval Latin manu- scripts are probably spurious, but there is no doubt of his belief in astrology. German research as usual regards its favorite Posidonius as the ultimate source of much of the Tetrabiblos, but this is not a matter of much consequence for our present investigation. In the Tetrabiblos Ptolemy first engages in argument Validity of as to the validity of the art of judicial astrology. If his ^^^'■°°gy- remarks in this connection were not already trite conten- tions, they soon came to be regarded as truisms. The laws of astronomy are beyond dispute, says Ptolemy, but the art of prediction of human affairs from the courses of the stars may be assailed with more show of reason. Opponents of astrology object that the art is uncertain, and that it is use- less since the events decreed by the force of the stars are inevitable. Ptolemy opens his argument in favor of the art by assuming as evident that a certain force is diffused from the heavens over all things on earth. If ignorant sailors are able to judge the future weather from the sky, a highly trained astronomer should be able to predict concerning its influence on man. The art itself should not be rejected be* cause impostors frequently abuse it, and Ptolemy admits that it has not yet been brought to the point of perfection and that even the skilful investigator often makes mistakes owing to the incomplete state of human science. For one thing, Ptolemy regards the doctrine of the nature of matter held in his time as hypothetical rather than certain. An- other difficulty is that old configurations of the stars can- ^ Studien iiber Claudius Ptolemdus, 1894. 112 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Influence of the stars not inevitable. Astrology as natural science. not safely be used as the basis of present day predictions. Indeed, so manifold are the different possible positions of the stars and the different possible arrangements of terres- trial matter in relation to the stars that it is difficult to col- lect enough observations on which to base rules of general judgment. Moreover, such considerations as diversity of place, of custom, and of education must be taken into ac- count in foretelling the future of different persons born under the same stars. But although for these reasons pre- dictions frequently fail, yet the art is not to be condemned any more than one rejects the art of navigation because of frequent shipwrecks. Nor it is true that the art is useless because the decrees of the stars are inevitable. It is often an advantage to have previous knowledge even of what cannot be avoided. Even the prediction of disaster serves to break the news gently. But not all predictions are inevitable and immutable; this is true only of the motion of the sky itself and events in which it is exclusively concerned. "But other events which do not arise solely from the sky's motion, are easily altered by application of opposite remedies," just as we can in part remedy the hurt of wounds and diseases or counteract the heat of summer by use of cooling things. The Egyptians have always found astrology useful in the practice of medi- cine. Ptolemy next proceeds to set forth the natures and powers of the stars "according to the observations of the ancients and conformably to natural science." Later, when he comes to the prediction of particulars, he still professes "to follow everywhere the law of natural causation," and in a third passage he states that he "will omit all those things which do not have a probable natural cause, which many nevertheless scrutinize curiously and to excess: nor will I pile up divinations by lot-castings or from numbers, which are unscientific, but I will treat of those which have an investigated certainty based on the positions of the stars and the properties of places." Connecting the positions of in SENECA AND PTOLEMY 113 the stars with earthly regions, — it is an art that fits in well with Ptolemy's other occupations of astronomer and geogra- pher! The Tetrabiblos has been called "Science's surren- der," ^ but was it not more truly divination purified and made scientific? Taking up first the properties of the seven planets, Properties Ptolemy associates with each one or more of the four ele- pf^^^^g mental qualities, hot, cold, dry, and moist. Thus the sun warms and to some extent dries, for the nearer it comes to our pole the more heat and drought it produces. The moon is moist, since it is close to the earth and is affected by the vapors from the latter, while its influence renders other bodies soft and causes putrefaction. But it also warms a little owing to the rays it receives from the sun. Saturn chills and to some extent dries, for it is remote from the sun's heat and earth's damp vapors. Mars emits a parching heat, as its color and proximity to the sun indicate. Jupi- ter, situated between cold Saturn and burning Mars, is of a rather lukewarm nature but tends more to warmth and mois- ture than to their opposites. So does Venus, but conversely, for it warms less than Jupiter does but moistens more, its large surface catching many vapors from the neighbor- ing earth. In Mercury, situated near sun, moon, and earth alike, neither drought nor dampness predominates, but the velocity of that planet makes it a potent cause of sudden changes. In general, the planets exert a good or evil influ- ence as they abound in the two rich and vivifying qualities, heat and moisture, or in the detrimental ones, cold and drought. Wet stars like the moon and Venus, are femi- nine ; Mercury is neuter ; the other planets are masculine. The sex of a planet may also, however, be reckoned accord- ing to its position in relation to the sun and the horizon ; and changes in the influences exerted by the planets are noted ac- cording to their position or relation to the sun. This dis- cussion of the properties of the planets is neither convinc- * "C'etait la capitulation de la science." Bouche-Leclerca in Rev, Hist.. LXV, 257, note 3. 114 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. ing nor scientific. It seems arguing in a circle to make their effects upon the earth depend to such an extent upon them- selves being affected by vapors from the earth. Indeed we are rather surprised that an astronomer like Ptolemy should represent vapors from the earth as affecting the planets at all. But his discussion is at least an effort, albeit a feeble one, to express the potencies of the planets in physical terms. Remaining Ptolemy goes on to discuss the powers of the fixed stars of Book which seem to depend upon their positions in constellations O"^- and their relations to the planets. Then he treats of the influence of the four seasons of the year and four cardinal points, each of which he relates to one of the four qualities, hot, cold, dry, and moist. With a discussion of the signs of the zodiac and their division into Houses and relation in Trigones or Triplicitates or groups of three connected with the four qualities, of the exaltation of the planets in the signs and of other divisions of the signs and relations of the planets to them, the first book ends. Book The second book begins by distinguishing prediction of Regions. events for whole regions or countries, such as wars, pesti- lences, famines, earthquakes, winds, drought, and weather, from the prediction of events in the lives of individuals. Ptolemy holds that events which affect large areas or whole peoples and cities are produced by greater and more valid causes than are the acts of individual men, and also that in order to predict aright concerning the individual it is neces- sary to know his region and nationality. He characterizes the inhabitants of the three great climatic zones,^ quarters the inhabited world into Europe, Libya, and two parts for Asia in the style of the T maps, and subdivides these into different countries whose peoples are described, including such races as the Amazons. The effects of the stars vary according to time as well as place, so that the period in which any individual lives is as important to take into ^ In the medieval Latin translation the Slavs replace the Scythians of Ptolemy's text. Ill SENECA AND PTOLEMY 115 account as his nationality. Ptolemy also discusses how the heavenly bodies influence the genus of events, a matter which depends largely upon the signs of the zodiac, and also how they determine their quality, good or bad, and spe- cies, which depends on the dominant stars and their con- junctions. Consequently he gives a list of the things which belong under the rule of each planet. The remainder of the second book is concerned chiefly with prediction of wind and weather through the year and with other meteorological phenomena such as comets. The last two books take up the prediction of events in Nativities. the lives of individuals from the stars, in other words the science of nativities or genethlialogy. The third book dis- cusses conception and birth, how to take the horoscope — Ptolemy insists that the astrolabe is the only reliable instru- ment for determining the exact time; sun-dials or water- clocks will not do — and how to predict concerning parents, brothers and sisters, sex, twins, monstrous births, length of life, the physical constitution of the child born and what accidents and diseases may befall it, and finally concerning mental traits and defects. The fourth book deals less with the nature of the individual and more with the prediction of external events which befall the individual : honors, office, marriage, offspring, slaves, travel, and the sort of death that he will die. Ptolemy in opening the fourth book makes the distinction that, while in the third book he treated of mat- ters antecedent to birth or immediately related to birth or which concern the temperament of the individual, now he will deal with those external to the body and which happen to the individual from without. But of course it is difficult to maintain such a distinction with entire con- sistency. The great influence of the Tetrabihlos is shown not only Future in- in medieval Arabic commentaries and Latin translations, fhe""^"^!. but more immediately in the astrological writings of the de- biblos. dining Roman Empire, when such astrologers as Hephaes- ii6 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap, hi tion of Thebes/ Paul of Alexandria, and Julius Firmicus Maternus cite it as a leading authoritative work. Only the opponents of astrology appear to have remained ignorant of the Tetrabihlos, continuing to make criticisms of the art which do not apply to Ptolemy's presentation of it or which had been specifically answered by him. Thus Sextus Em- piricus, attacking astrology about 200 A. D., does not men- tion the Tetrabihlos and some of the Christian critics of astrology apparently had not read it. Whether the Neo- Platonists, Porphyry and Proclus, wrote an introduction to and commentary upon it is disputed. ^ Indeed, Hephaestion's first two dit Guilelmus KroU, Berlin, 1908. books are nothing but Ptolemy See also CCAG passim concerning repeated. About contemporary both Hephaestion and Vettius with Ptolemy seems to have been Valens, and Engelbrecht, Hephas- Vettius Valens whose astrological tion von Thcbcn und sein astrO' work is extant : Vettius Valens, logisches Compendium, Vienna, Anthologiarum libri primum edi- 1887. CHAPTER IV GALEN I. The Man and His Times Recent ignorance of Galen — His voluminous works — The manuscript tradition of his works — His vivid personality — Birth and parentage — Education in philosophy and medicine — First visit to Rome — Relations with the emperors; later life — His unfavorable picture of the learned world — Corruption of the medical profession — Lack of real search for truth — Poor doctors and medical students — Medical discovery in his time — The drug trade — The imperial stores — Galen's private supply of drugs — Mediterranean commerce — Frauds of dealers in wild beasts — Galen's ideal of anonymity — The ancient book trade — Falsification and mistakes in manuscripts — Galen as a historical source — Ancient slavery — Social life ; food and wine — Allusions to Judaism and Christianity — Galen's monotheism — Christian readers of Galen. 11. His Medicine and Experimental Science Four elements and four qualities — His criticism of atomism — Appli- cation of the theory of four qualities in medicine — His therapeutics obsolete — Some of his medical notions — Two of his cases — His power of rapid observation and inference — His happy guesses — Tendency toward scientific measurement — Psychological tests with the pulse — Galen's anatomy and physiology — Experiments in dissection — Did he ever dissect human bodies ? — Dissection of animals — Surgical operations — Galen's argument from design — Queries concerning the soul — No supernatural force in medicine — Galen's experimental instinct — His atti- tude toward authorities — Adverse criticism of past writers — His esti- mate of Dioscorides — Galen's dogmatism ; logic and experience — His account of the Empirics — How the Empirics might have criticized Galen — Galen's standard of reason and experience — Simples knowable only through experience — Experience and food science — Experience and compounds — Suggestions of experimental method — Difficulty of medical experiment — Empirical remedies — Galen's influence upon medieval ex- periment— His more general medieval influence. III. His Attitude Toward Magic Accusations of magic against Galen — His charges of magic against others — Charms and wonder-workers — Animal substances inadmissible 117 Ii8 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE cha&. in medicine — Nastiness of ancient medicine — Parts of animals — Some scepticism — Doctrine of occult virtue — Virtue of the flesh of vipers — Theriac — Magical compounds — Amulets — Incantations and characters — Belief in magic dies hard — On Easily Procurable Remedies — Specimens of its superstitious contents — External signs of the temperaments of internal organs — Marvelous statements repeated by Maimonides — Dreams — Absence of astrology in most of Galen's medicine — The Prognostication of Disease by Astrology — Critical days — On the His- tory of Philosophy — Divination and demons — Celestial bodies. &\\' etris Karayvcc nov ToSe, duokoyco t6 tclOos rovudv 5 Trap' 6\ov knavTov Tov ^lov 'iiradov, ou8evl TnaTevcras rdv biriyovixkvwv rkroiavTa, Trplv Tzeipadifjvai. Kal avros Siv bwarov tjv els Trelpav tKdilv fie. Kiihn, IV, 513. Slo K^-v ix€T^ kfikris ofxoiojs hfjiol <}>L\d7rov6s re Kal ^rjXcoTLKds OLkrjdeias yhr]TaL, pri TrpoTerois tK 8volv ^ Tpiihv xPW^^iv airo4>o.Lvkado3. iroX- XoLKts yap avT(^ (i>aveiTaibia Tri% paxpds irelpas coaTrep k Kal ry ^baei. Kal ry TrpcjTj] 5t5acr/caXt^ ttoKv tcov aWav dieveyKtlv eireLdav 8k ykvqyai, peipaKiov aXtjOelas tlvos txeiv kporiK'^v pavlav wcnrep kv9ovaio}VTa,Kal pr}d' ijpkpa^ prjTevvKTos 8ia\elireLV (TTevSovra re Kal avvTeraptvov kKpaOelv, ocra toIs kp8o^OT6.TOLS (IprjTaL tcov TraXaioiu' kTreL8av 5* eKpadrj, Kpivetv aurd Kal ^acravl^eiv XP^^V irapir6Wcj} Kal crKOTeZv iroaa peu 6po\oyel toIs kpapycos aLVOpkvOis TTocra 5^ 8ia4>kptTai Kal outojs to. fikv atpeladai ra 8' aT0(TTpk4>€adat„ Kiihn, II, 179. "But if anyone charges me therewrith, I confess my disease from which I have suffered all my life long, to trust none of those v^ho make such statements until I have tested them for myself in so far as it has been possible for me to put them to the test." "So if anyone after me becomes like me fond of w^ork and zealous for truth, let him not conclude hastily from tv^^o or three cases. For often he will be enlightened through long experience, just as I have been." (It is remarkable that Pto- lemy spoke similarly of his predecessor, Hipparchus, as a "lover of toil and truth" — IV GALEN 119 "For one who is to understand any matter better than most men do must straightway differ much from other persons in his nature and earHest education. And when he becomes a lad he must be madly in love with the truth and carried away by enthusiasm for it, and not let up by day or by night but press on and stretch every nerve to learn whatever the ancients of most repute have said. But having learned it, he must judge the same and put it to the test for a long, long time and observe v/hat agrees with visible phenomena and what disagrees, and so accept the one and reject the other." I. The Man and His Times At the close of the nineteenth century one English stu- Recent dent of the history of medicine said, "Galen is so inacces- Jf/^Qalen. sible to English readers that it is difficult to learn about him at first hand." ^ Another wrote, "There is, perhaps, no other instance of a man of equal intellectual rank who has been so persistently misunderstood and even misinter- preted." ^ A third obstacle to the ready comprehension of Galen has been that while more critical editions of some single works have been published by Helmreich and others in recent times,^ no complete edition of his works has ap- peared since that of Kiihn a century ago,^ which is now re- garded as very faulty.^ A fourth reason for neglect or * James Finlayson, Galen: Two Bibliographical Demonstrations in the Library of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glas- gow, 1895. Since then I believe that the only work of Galen to be translated into English is On the Natural Faculties, ed. A. J. Brock, 1916 (Loeb Library). ^J. F. Payne, The Relation of Harvey to his Predecessors and especially to Galen: Harveian Oration of 1896, in The Lancet, Oct. 24, 1896, p. 113^. ^ In the Teubner texts : Scrip- tora minora, 1-3, ed. I. Marquardt, I. Mueller, G. Helmreich, 1884- 1893 ; De victu, ed. Helmreich, 1898; Dc iemperjmentis, ed. Helmreich, 1904; De usu partium, ed. Helmreich, 1907, 1909. In Corpus Medicorum Grae- corum, V, 9, 1-2, 1914-1915, The Hippocratic Commentaries, ed. Mewaldt, Helmreich, Westen- berger, Diels, Hieg. * Carolus Gottlob Kiihn, Claudii Galeni Opera Omnia, Leipzig, 1821-1833, 21 vols. My citations will be to this edition, unless otherwise specified. An older edition which is often cited is that of Renatus Charterius, Paris, 1679, 13 vols. ° The article on Galen in PW regards some of the treatises as printed in Kiihn as almost un- readable. 120 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. misunderstanding of Galen is probably that there is so much by him to be read. His volu- Athenaeus stated that Galen wrote more treatises than works.^ any other Greek, and although many are now lost, more particularly of his logical and philosophical writings, his collected extant works in Greek text and Latin translation fill some twenty volumes averaging a thousand pages each. When we add that often there are no chapter headings or other brief clues to the contents,^ which must be ploughed through slowly and thoroughly, since some of the most valuable bits of information come in quite incidentally or by way of unlooked-for digression; that errors in the printed text, and the technical vocabulary with numerous words not found in most classical dictionaries increase the reader's difficulties; ^ and that little if any of the text possesses any present medical value, while much of it is dreary enough reading even for one animated by historical interest, espe- cially if one has no technical knowledge of medicine and surgery : — when we consider all these deterrents, we are not surprised that Galen is little known. "Few physicians or even scholars in the present day," continues the English historian of medicine quoted above, "can claim to have read through this vast collection ; I certainly least of all. I can only pretend to have touched the fringe, especially of the anatomical and physiological works." ^ * Although Kiihn's Index fills a amined long stretches of text volume, it is far from dependable. from which I have got nothing. ^Liddell and Scott often fail to For the most part, I thought it allude to germane passages in better not to take time to read the Galen's works, even when they Hippocratic commentaries. At include, with citation of some first I was inclined to depend other author, the word he uses. upon others for Galen's treatises ^ Perhaps at this point a simi- on anatomy and physiology, but larly candid confession by the finally I read most of them in present writer is in order. I have order to learn at first hand of his tried to do a little more than Dr. argument from design and his Payne in his modesty seems ready attitude towards dissection. Fur- to admit of himself, and to look ther than this the reader can prob- over carefully enough not to miss ably judge for himself from my anything of importance those citations as to the extent and works which seemed at all likely depth of my reading. My first to bear upon my particular inter- draft was completed before I dis- est, the history of science and covered that Puschmann had made magic. In consequence I have ex- considerable use of Galen for IV GALEN 121 works. Although the works of Galen are so voluminous, they The have reached us for the most part in comparatively late ^adition^^ manuscripts/ and to some extent perhaps only in their me- of Galen's dieval form. The extant manuscripts of the Greek text are mostly of the fifteenth century and represent the en- thusiasm of humanists who hoped by reviving the study of Galen in the original to get something new and better out of him than the schoolmen had. In this expectation they seem to have been for the most part disappointed ; the mid- dle ages had already absorbed Galen too thoroughly. If it be true, as Dr. Payne contends,^ that the chief original con- tributions to medical science of the Renaissance period were the work of men trained in Greek scholarship, this was be- cause, when they failed to get any new ideas from the Greek texts, they turned to the more promising path of experimen- tal research which both Galen and the middle ages had al- ready advocated. The bulky medieval Latin translations ^ of Galen are older than most of the extant Greek texts ; there are also versions in Arabic and Syriac* For the last five books of the Anatomical Exercises the only extant text is an Arabic manuscript not yet published.^ medical conditions in the Roman Empire in his History of Medi- cal Education, English transla- tion, London, 1891, pp. 93-ii3- For the sake of a complete and well-rounded survey I have thought it best to retain those pas- sages where I cover about the same ground. I have been unable to procure T. Meyer-Steineg, Ein Tag ini Leben des Galen, Jena, 1913, 63 pp. ^ For an account of the MSS see H. Diels, Berl. Akad. Abh. (1905), SSff. Some fragments of Galen's work on medicinal simples exist in a fifth century MS of Dioscorides at Constantinople and have been reproduced by M. Well- mann in Hermes, XXXVIII (1903), 292fif. The first two books of his Trepi TUiv iv ralj Tpo4>als Svva- fieuv were discovered in a Wolf- enbiittel palimpsest of the fifth or sixth century by K. Koch; see Berl. Akad. Sitzb. (1907), I03ff. 'Lancet (1896), p. II3S- ^ For these see V. Rose, Ana- lecta Graeca et Latina, Berlin, 1864. As a specimen of these medieval Latin translations may be mentioned a collection of some twenty-six treatises in one huge volume which I have seen in the library of Balliol College, Oxford: Balliol 231, a large folio, early 14th century (a note of owner- ship was added in 1334 at Canter- bury) fols. 437, double columned pages. For the titles and incipits of the individual treatises see Coxe (1852). *A. Merx, "Proben der syri- schen Uebersetzung von Galenus' Schrift iiber die einfachen Heil- mittel," Zeitsch. d. Deutsch. Mor^ gendl. Gcsell. XXXIX (1885). 237-305. * Payne, Lancet (1896), p. 1130. 122 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Galen's vivid per- sonality. Birth and parentage. If SO comparatively little is generally known about Galen, it is not because he had an unattractive personality. Nor is it difficult to make out the main events of his hfe. His works supply an unusual amount of personal information, and throughout his writings, unless he is merely transcrib- ing past prescriptions, he talks like a living man, detailing incidents of daily life and making upon the reader a vivid and unaffected impression of reality. Daremberg asserts ^ that the exuberance of his imagination and his vanity fre- quently make us smile. It is true that his pharmacology and therapeutics often strike us as ridiculous, but he did not imagine them, they were the medicine of his age. It is true that he mentions cases which he has cured and those in which other physicians have been at fault, but official war des- patches do the same with their own victories and the enemy's defeats. Vae victis! In Galen's case, at least, posterity long confirmed his own verdict. And dull or obsolete as his medicine now is, his scholarly and intellectual ideals and love of hard work at his art are still a living force, while the reader of his pages often feels himself carried back to the Roman world of the second century. Thus "the magic of literature," to quote a fine sentence by Payne, "brings together thinkers widely separated in space and time." ^ Galen — he does not seem to have been called Claudius until the time of the Renaissance — was born about 129 A.D.* at Pergamum in Asia Minor. His father, Nikon, was an architect and mathematician, trained in arithmetic, geome- try, and astronomy. Much of this education he transmitted to his son, but even more valuable, in Galen's opinion, were his precepts to follow no one sect or party but to hear and judge them all, to despise honor and glory, and to magnify truth alone. To this teaching Galen attributes his own peaceful and painless passage through life. He has never * Ch. V. Daremberg, Exposition des connaissances de Galien sur I'anatomie, la physiologie, et la pathologic du systcme nerveux, Paris, 1841. ^Lancet (1896), p. 1140. * Brock (1916), p. xvi, says in 131 A.D. Clinton, Fasti Romani, placed it in 130. IV GALEN 122, grieved over losses of property but managed to get along somehow. He has not minded much when some have vitu- perated him, thinking instead of those who praise him. In later life Galen looked back with great affection upon his father and spoke of his own great good fortune in having as a parent that gentlest, justest, most honest and humane of men. On the other hand, the chief thing that he learned from his mother was to avoid her failings of a sharp tem- per and tongue, with which she made life miserable for their household slaves and scolded his father worse than Xan- thippe ever did Socrates.^ In one of his works Galen speaks of the passionate love Education and enthusiasm for truth which has possessed him since boy- o"h'^*'and hood, so that he has not stopped either by day or by night medicine, from quest of it.^ He realized that to become a true scholar required both high natural qualifications and a superior type of education from the start. After his fourteenth year he heard the lectures of various philosophers, Platonist and Peripatetic, Stoic and Epicurean ; but when about seventeen, warned by a dream of his father,^ he turned to the study of medicine. This incident of the dream shows that neither Galen nor his father, despite their education and in- tellectual standards, were free from the current belief in occult influences, of which we shall find many more instances in Galen's works. Galen first studied medicine for four years under Satyrus in his native city of Pergamum, then under Pelops at Smyrna, later under Numisianus at Corinth and Alexandria.^ This was about the time that the great mathematician and astronomer, Ptolemy, was completing his observations ^ in the neighborhood of Alexandria, but Galen does not mention him, despite his own belief that a first-rate physician should also know such subjects as ^ These details are from the De XIX, 59. cognoscendis curandisque animi * De anatom. administ., Kiihn, morbis, cap. 8, Kiihn, V, 40-44- II, 217, 224-25, 660. See also XV, ^De naturalihus facultatibus, 136; XIX, 57. ^^' ^9' Kiihn, II, 179. = His recorded astronomical ob- ' Kiihn, X, 609 (De methodo servations extend from 127 to 151 medendi); also XVI, 223; and A.D. 124 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. First visit to Rome. Relations with the emperors : later life. geometry and astronomy, music and rhetoric.^ Galen's in- terest in philosophy continued, however, and he wrote many logical and philosophical treatises, most of which are lost.^ His father died when he was twenty, and it was after this that he went to other cities to study. Galen returned to Pergamum to practice and was, when but twenty-nine, made the doctor for the gladiators by five successive pontiffs.^ During his thirties came his first resi- dence at Rome.* The article on Galen in Pauly-Wissowa states that he was driven away from Rome by the plague, and in De libris pi'opriis he does say that, "when the great plague broke out there, I hurriedly departed from the city for my native land." ^ But in De prognosticatione ad Epi- genem his explanation is that he became disgusted with the malice of the envious physicians of the capital, and deter- mined to return home as soon as the sedition there was over.^ Meanwhile he stayed on and gained great fame by his cures but their jealousy and opposition multiplied, so that pres- ently, when he learned that the sedition was over, he went back to Pergamum. His fame, however, had come to the imperial ears and he was soon summoned to Aquileia to meet the emperors on their way north against the invading Germans. An out- break of the plague there prevented their proceeding with the campaign immediately,"^ and Galen states that the em- perors fled for Rome with a few troops, leaving the rest to suffer from the plague and cold winter. On the way Lucius Verus died, and when Marcus Aurelius finally returned to the front, he allowed Galen to go back to Rome as court ^Kiihn, X, i6. ^Fragments du commcntaire de G alien siir le Timce de Plat on, were published for the first time, both in Greek and a French trans- lation, together with an Essai sur Galien considcrc comme philo- sophe, by Ch. Daremberg, Paris, 1848. " Kiihn, XIII, 599-6oo. * Clinton, Fasti Romani, I, 151 and 155, speaks of a first visit of Galen to Rome in 162 and a second in 164, but he has misinterpreted Galen's statements. When Galen speaks of his second visit to Rome, he means his return after the plague. ° Kiihn, XIX, IS. "Kiihn, XIV, 622, 625, 648; sec also I, 54-57, and XII, 263. ' Kiihn, XIV, 649-50. IV GALEN 125 physician to Commodus.^ The prevalence of the plague at this time is illustrated by a third encounter which Galen had with it in Asia, when he claims to have saved himself and others by thorough venesection.^ The war lasted much longer than had been anticipated and meanwhile Galen was occupied chiefly in literary labors, completing a number of works. In 192 some of his writings and other treasures were lost in a fire which destroyed the Temple of Peace on the Sacred Way. Of some of the works which thus per- ished he had no other copy himself. In one of his works on compound medicines he explains that some persons may possess the first two books which had already been pub- lished, but that these had perished with others in a shop on the Sacra Via when the whole shrine of peace and the great libraries on the Palatine hill were consumed, and that his friends, none of whom possessed copies, had besought him to begin the work all over again. ^ Galen was still alive and writing during the early years of the dynasty of the Severi, and probably died about 200. Although the envy of other physicians at Rome and His unfa- their accusing him of resort to magic arts and divination vorable , . ? . . picture of m his marvelous prognostications and cures were perhaps the learned neither the sole nor the true reason for Galen's temporary ^°^ withdrawal from the capital, there probably is a great deal of truth in the picture he paints of the medical profession and learned world of his day. There are too many other ancient witnesses, from the encyclopedist Pliny and the satirist Juvenal to the fourth century lawyer and astrologer, Firmicus, who substantiate his charges to permit us to ex- plain them away as the product of personal bitterness or * R. M. Briau, L'Archiafrie Ro- Merton 219, early 14th century, maine, Paris, 1877, however, held fol. 2^ — "Incipit liber Galieni that Galen never received the offi- archistratos medicorum de ma- cial title, archiater; see p. 24, "il est litia complexionis diversae." difficile de comprendre pourquoi ^ De venae sectione, Kiihn, XIX, le medecin de Pergame qui don- 524. nait des soins a I'empereur Marc ^ Kiihn, XIII, 2^2-62, ; for an- Aurele, ne fut jamais honore de other allusion to this fire see XIV, ce titre." But he is given the title 66. Also II, 216; XIX, 19 and 41. in at least one medieval MS — 126 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Corrup- tion of the medical profession. pessimism. We feel that these men lived in an intellectual society where faction and villainy, superstition and petty- mindedness and personal enmity, were more manifest than in the quieter and, let us hope, more tolerant learned world of our time. Selfishness and pretense, personal likes and dislikes, undoubtedly still play their part, but there is not passionate animosity and open war to the knife on every hand. The stattis belli may still be characteristic of politics and the business world, but scholars seem able to live in substantial peace. Perhaps it is because there is less prospect of worldly gain for members of the learned professions than in Galen's day. Perhaps it is due to the growth of the impartial scientific spirit, of unwritten codes of courtesy and ethics within the leading learned professions, and of state laws concerning such matters as patents, copyright, profes- sional degrees, pure food, and pure drugs. Perhaps, in the unsatisfactory relations between those who should have been the best educated and most enlightened men of that time we may see an important symptom of the intellectual and ethical decline of the ancient world. Galen states that many tire of the long struggle with crafty and wicked men which they have tried to carry on, relying upon their erudition and honest toil alone, and withdraw disgusted from the madding crowd to save them- selves in dignified retirement. He especially marvels at the evil-mindedness of physicians of reputation at Rome. Though they live in the city, they are a band of robbers as truly as the brigands of the mountains. He is inclined to account for the roguery of Roman physicians compared to those of a smaller city by the facts that elsewhere men are not so tempted by the magnitude of possible gain and that in a smaller town everyone is known by everyone else and questionable practices cannot escape general notice. The rich men of Rome fall easy prey to these unscrupulous prac- titioners who are ready to flatter them and play up to their weaknesses. These rich men can see the use of arithmetic and geometry, which enable them to keep their books tv GALEN 127 straight and to build houses for their domestic comfort, and of divination and astrology, from which they seek to learn whose heirs they will be, but they have no appreciation of pure philosophy apart from rhetorical sophistry.-^ Galen more than once complains that there are no real Lack of seekers after truth in his time, but that all are intent upon for truth, money, political power, or pleasure. You know very well, he says to one of his friends in the De methodo medendi, that not five men of all those whom we have met prefer to be rather than to seem wise.^ Many make a great outward display and pretense in medicine and other arts who have no real knowledge.^ Galen several times expresses his scorn for those who spend their mornings in going about saluting their friends, and their evenings in drinking bouts or in dining with the rich and powerful. Yet even his friends have reproached him for studying too much and not going out more. But while they have wasted their hours thus, he has spent his, first in learning all that the ancients have discovered that is of value, then in testing and prac- ticing the same.* Moreover, now-a-days many are trying to teach others what they have never accomplished them- selves.' Thessalus not only toadied to the rich but secured many pupils by offering to teach them medicine in six months.^ Hence it is that tailors and dyers and smiths are abandoning their arts to become physicians. Thessalus himself, Galen ungenerously taunts, was educated by a father who plucked wool badly in the women's apartments.''^ Indeed, Galen himself, by the violence of his invective and the occasional passionateness of his animosity in his con- troversies with other individuals or schools of medicine, illustrates that state of war in the intellectual world of his age to which we have adverted. ^■For the statements of this *Kuhn, X, i, y6. paragraph see Kiihn, XIV, 603-5, • Kiihn X 600 620-23. ' ' ^' " Kiihn, X, 114. 'Kiihn, X, 4-5. •Kiihn, XIV, 599-600. 'Kiihn, X, 10. 128 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Poor doc- tors and medical students. Medical discovery in Galen's time. The drug trade. We suggested the possibility that learning compared to other occupations was more remunerative in Galen's day than in our own, but there were poor physicians and medi- cal students then, as well as those greedy for gain or who associated with the rich. Many doctors could not afford to use the rarer or stronger simples and limited themselves to easily procured, inexpensive, and homely medicaments.^ Many of his fellow-students regarded as a counsel of per- fection unattainable by them Galen's plan of hearing all the different medical sects and comparing their merits and test- ing their validity.^ They said tearfully that this course was all very well for him with his acute genius and his wealthy father behind him, but that they lacked the money to pursue an advanced education, perhaps had already lost valuable time under unsatisfactory teachers, or felt that they did not possess the discrimination to select for themselves what was profitable from several conflicting schools. Galen was, it has already been made apparent, an intel- lectual aristocrat, and possessed little patience with those stupid men who never learn anything for themselves, though they see a myriad cures worked before their eyes. But that, apart from his own work, the medical profession was not entirely stagnant in his time, he admits when he asserts that many things are known to-day which had not been discov- ered before, and when he mentions some curative methods recently invented at Rome.^ Galen supplies considerable information concerning the drug trade in Rome itself and throughout the empire. He often complains of adulteration and fraud. The physician must know the medicinal simples and their properties him- self and be able to detect adulterated medicines, or the mer- chants, perfumers, and herbarii will deceive him.* Galen refuses to reveal the methods employed in adulterating opobalsam, which he had investigated personally, lest the * Kiihn, XII, 909, 916, and in vol. XIV the entire treatise De reme- diis parabilibus. * Kiihn, X, 560. "Kiihn, X, loio-ii. * Kiihn, XIII, 571-72. IV GALEN 129 evil practice spread further.^ At Rome at least there were dealers in unguents who corresponded roughly to our drug- gists. Galen says there is not an unguent-dealer in Rome who is unacquainted with herbs from Crete, but he asserts that there are equally good medicinal plants growing in the very suburbs of Rome of which they are totally ignorant, and he taxes even those who prepare drugs for the em- perors with the same oversight. He tells how the herbs from Crete come wrapped in cartons with the name of the herb written on the outside and sometimes the further state- ment that it is canipestris.^ These Roman drug stores seem not to have kept open at night, for Galen in describing a case speaks of the impossibility of procuring the medicines needed at once because "the lamps were already lighted." ^ The emperors kept a special store of drugs of their own The and had botanists in Sicily, Crete, and Africa who supplied stcu-es!^ not only them with medicinal herbs, but also the city of Rome as well, Galen says. However, the emperors appear to have reserved a large supply of the finest and rarest sim- ples for their own use. Galen mentions a large amount of Hymettus honey in the imperial stores — kv rals avroKparo- pLKals airodrjKaLs,^ whence our word "apothecary." ^ He proves that cinnamon ^ loses its potency with time by his own ex- * Kijhn, XIV, 62, and see Pusch- dicitur is qui species aromaticas mann, History of Medical Educa- et res quacunque arti medicine et tion (1891), p. 108. cirurgie necessarias habet penes ^ Kiilin, XIV, 10, 30, 79; and see se et venales exponit," fol. 3. Puschmann (1891), 109-11, where "According to Hugutius an there is bibliography of the sub- apothecary is one who collects ject. samples of various commodities in ^ Kiihn, X, 792. his stores. An apothecary is called * Kiihn, XIV, 26. one who has at hand and exposes " The meaning of the word for sale aromatic species and all "apothecary" is explained as fol- sorts of things needful in medi- lows in a fourteenth century cine and surgery." manuscript at Chartres which is "The nest of the fabled cinna- a miscellany of religious treatises mon bird was supposed to contain with a bestiary and lapidary and supplies of the spice, which He- bears the title, "Apothecarius rodotus (III, iii) tells us the moralis monasterii S. Petri Car- Arabian merchants procured by notensis." leaving heavy pieces of flesh for "Apothecarius est, secundum the birds to carry to their nests, Hugucium, qui nonnullas diver- which then broke down under the sarum rerum species in apothecis excessive weight. In Aristotle's suis aggregat. . . . Apothecarius History of Animals (IX, 13) the 130 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE cukvT Galen's private supply of drugs : terra sigillata. perience as imperial physician. An assignment of the spice sent to Marcus AureHus from the land of the barbarians (kKTTJs ^ap^apov) was superior to what had stood stored in wooden jars from the reigns of Trajan, Hadrian, and An- toninus Pius. Commodus exhausted all the recent supply, and when Galen was forced to turn to what had been on hand in preparing an antidote for Severus, he found it much weaker than before, although not thirty years had elapsed. That cinnamon was a commodity little known to the popu- lace is indicated by Galen's mentioning his loss in the fire of 192 of a few precious bits of bark he had stored away in a chest with other treasures.^ He praises the Severi, however, for permitting others to use theriac, a noted medi- cine and antidote of which we shall have more to say pres- ently. Thus, he says, not only have they as emperors re- ceived power from the gods, but in sharing their goods freely they are like the gods, who rejoice the more, the more people they save." Galen himself, and apparently other physicians, were not content to rely for medicines either upon the unguent-sellers or the bounty of the imperial stores. Galen stored away oil and fat and left them to age until he had enough to last for a hundred years, including some from his father's lifetime. He used some forty years old in one prescription.^ He also traveled to many parts of the Roman Empire and procured rare drugs in the places where they were produced. Very interesting is his account of going out of his way in jour- neying back and forth between Rome and Pergamum in order to stop at Lemnos and procure a supply of the famous terra sigillata, a reddish clay stamped into pellets with the sacred seal of Diana.* On the way to Rome, instead of journeying on foot through Thrace and Macedonia, he took ship from the Troad to Thessalonica ; but the vessel stopped nests are shot down with arrows * Kiihn, XIV, 64-66. tipped with lead. For other allu- ^^./j Pisoncm dc theriaca, Kiihn, sions to the cinnamon bird in XIV, 217. classical literature see D'Arcy W. j ' ... vttt Thompson, A Glossary of Greek ^"""' -^^^^' 704- 5iVrfj, Oxford, 1895, p. 82. "Kuhn, XII, 168-78. IV GALEN 131 in Lemnos at Myrine on the wrong side of the island, which Galen had not realized possessed more than one port, and the captain would not delay the voyage long enough to en- able him to cross the island to the spot where the terra sigillata was to be found. Upon his return from Rome through Macedonia, however, he took pains to visit the right port, and for the benefit of future travelers gives careful instructions concerning the route to follow and the distances between stated points. He describes the solemn procedure by which the priestess from the neighboring city gathered the red earth from the hill where it was found, sacrificing no animals, but wheat and barley to the earth. He brought away with him some twenty thousand of the little discs or seals which were supposed to cure even lethal poisons and the bite of mad dogs. The inhabitants laughed, however, at the assertion which Galen had read in Dioscorides that the seals were made by mixing the blood of a goat with the earth. Berthelot, the historian of chemistry, believed that this earth was "an oxide of iron more or less hydrated and impure."^ In another passage Galen advises his readers, * M. Berthelot, "Sur les voyages had replaced the priestess of de Galien et de Zosime dans I'Ar- Diana. Pierre Belon witnessed it chipel et en Asie, et sur la matiere on August 6th, 1533. By that time medicale dans I'antiquite," in there were many varieties of the Journal dcs Savants (1895), PP- tablets, "because each lord of 382-7. The article is chiefly de- Lemnos had a distinct seal." voted to showing that an alchem- When Tozer visited Lemnos in istic treatise attributed to Zosimus 1890 the ceremony was still per- copies Galen's account of his trips formed annually on August sixth to Lemnos and Cyprus. Of such and must be completed before future copying of Galen we shall sunrise or the earth would lose its encounter many more instances. efficacy. Mohammedan khodjas As for the terra sigillata, C. J. now shared in the religious cere- S. Thompson, in a paper on mony, sacrificing a lamb. But "Terra Sigillata, a famous medi- in the twentieth century the en- cament of ancient times," pub- tire ceremony was abandoned, lished in the Proceedings of the Through the early modern cen- Seventeenth International Con- turies the terra sigillata continued gress of Medical Sciences. Lon- to be held in high esteem in don, 1913, Section XXIII, pp. western Europe also, and was in- 433-44, tells of various medieval eluded in pharmacopeias as late as substitutes for the Lemnian earth 1833 and 1848. Thompson gives a from other places, and of the in- chemical analysis of a sixteenth teresting_ religious ceremony, per- century tablet of the Lemnian formed in the presence of the earth and finds no evidence there- Turkish officials on only one day in of its possessing any medicinal in the year by Greek monks who property. 132 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Mediter- ranean commerce. if they are ever in Pamphylia, to lay in a good supply of the drug carpesiiim.^ In the ninth book of his work on medicinal simples he tells of three strata of sory, chalcite, and misy, which he had seen in a mine in Cyprus thirty years before and from which he had brought away a sup- ply, and of the surprising chemical change which the misy underwent in the course of these years. ^ Galen speaks of receiving other drugs from Great Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Cappadocia, Pontus, Macedonia, Gaul, Spain, and Mauretania, from the Celts, and even from In- dia.^ He names other places in Greece and Asia Minor than Mount Hymettus where good honey may be had, and states that much so-called Attic honey is really from the Cyclades, although it is brought to Athens and there sold or reshipped. Similarly, genuine Falernian wine is produced only in a small part of Italy, but other wines like it are prepared by those who are skilled in such knavery. As the best iris is that of Illyricum and the best asphalt is from Judea, so the best petroselinon is that of Macedonia, and merchants export it to almost the entire world just as they do Attic honey and Falernian wine. But the petroselinon crop of Epirus is sent to Thessalonica and there passed off for Macedonian. The best turpentine is that of Chios but a good variety may be obtained from Libya or Pontus. The manufacture of drugs has spread recently as well as the commerce in them. The Agricola in the sixteenth cen- tury wrote in his work on mining {De re metal., ed. Hoover, 1912, II, 31), "It is, however, very little to be wondered at that the hill in the Island of Lemnos was exca- vated, for the whole is of a reddish-yellow color which fur- nishes for the inhabitants that valuable clay so especially bene- ficial to mankind." 'Kiihn, XIV, 72. 'Kiihn, XII, 226-9. See the article of Berthelot just cited in a preceding note for an explana- tion of the three names and of Galen's experience. Mr. Hoover, in his translation of Agricola's work on metallurgy (1912), pp. 573-4, says, "It is desirable here to enquire into the nature of the substances given by all of the old mineralogists under the Latinized Greek terms, chalcitis, misy, sory, and melanteria." He cites Dios- corides (V, 75-77) and Pliny (NH, XXXIV, 29-31) on the sub- ject, but not Galen. Yule (1903) I, 126, notes that Marco Polo's account of Tutia and Spodium "reads almost like a condensed translation of Galen's account of Fompliolyx and Spodos." 'Kiihn. XIV, 7-8; XIII, 41 1-2; XII, 215-6. IV GALEN 133 best form of unguent was formerly made only in Laodicea, but now it is similarly compounded in many other cities of Asia Minor.^ We are reminded that parts of animals as well as herbs Frauds of and minerals were important constituents in ancient phar- j,^^^^^^ macy by Galen's invective against the frauds of hunters beasts, and dealers in wild beasts as well as of unguent-sellers. They do not hunt them at the proper season for securing their medicinal virtues, but when they are no longer in their prime or just after their long period of hibernation, when they are emaciated. Then they fatten them upon improper food, feed them barley cakes to stuff up and dull their teeth, or force them to bite frequently so that virus will run out of their mouths.^ Besides the ancient drug trade, Galen gives us some in- Galen's teresting glimpses of the publishing trade, if we may so _ term it, of his time. Writing in old age in the De methodo ity. medendi,^ he says that he has never attached his name to one of his works, never written for the popular ear or for fame, but fired by zeal for science and truth, or at the urgent re- quest of friends, or as a useful exercise for himself, or, as now, in order to forget his old age. Popular fame is only an impediment to those who desire to live tranquilly and enjoy the fruits of philosophy. He asks Eugenianus, whom he addresses in this passage, not to praise him immoderately before men, as he has been wont to do, and not to inscribe his name in his works. His friends nevertheless prevailed upon him to write two treatises Hsting his works,'* and he also is free enough in many of his books in mentioning others which are essential to read before perusing the pres- ent volume.^ Perhaps he felt differently at different times on the question of fame and anonymity. He also objected *Kuhn, XIV, 22-23, 77-78; * irepi T03V iSluv Pi^\luv,Ku\\n, XIX, XIII, 119. Sff. ; and irtpi rns Tdfecjs rcof iSiojy ' Kuhn, XIV, 255-56. The beasts /3i)3Xico;^, XIX,_49 ff. of course were also in demand for ° See, for instance, in the De the arena. methodo medcndi itself, X, 895-96 ' Kiihn, X, 456-57, opening pas- and 955. sage of the seventh book. 134 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. to those who read his works, not to learn anything from them, but only in order to calumniate them.^ The It was in a shop on the Sacra Via that most of the copies book"* of some of Galen's works were stored when they, together trade. with the great libraries upon the Palatine, were consumed in the fire of 192. But in another passage Galen states that the street of the Sandal-makers is where most of the book- stores in Rome are located.^ There he saw some men dis- puting whether a certain treatise was his. It was duly in- scribed Galenus mediais and one man, because the title was unfamiliar to him, bought it as a new work by Galen. But another man who was something of a philologer asked to see the introduction, and, after reading a few lines, de- clared that the book was not one of Galen's works. When Galen was still young, he wrote three commentaries on the throat and lungs for a fellow student who wished to have something to pass off as his own work upon his return home. This friend died, however, and the books got into circulation.^ Galen also complains that notes of his lec- tures which he has not intended for publication have got abroad,* that his servants have stolen and published some of his manuscripts, and that others have been altered, cor- rupted, and mutilated by those into whose possession they have come, or have been passed off by them in other lands as their own productions.^ On the other hand, some of his pupils keep his teachings to themselves and are unwilling to give others the benefit of them, so that if they should die suddenly, his doctrines would be lost.^ But his own ideal has always been to share his knowledge freely with those who sought it, and if possible with all mankind. At least one of Galen's works was taken down from his dictation by short-hand writers, when, after his convincing demonstra- tion by dissection concerning respiration and the voice, Boethus asked him for commentaries on the subject and 'Kiihn, XIV, 651: henceforth '11,217. this text will generally be cited *XIX, 9. without name. "XIX, 41. 'XIX, 8. "11,283. IV GALEN 135 sent for stenographers.^ Although Galen in his travels often purchased and carried home with him large quantities of drugs, when he made his first trip to Rome he left all his books in Asia.^ Galen dates the falsification of title pages and contents of books back to the time when kings Ptolemy of Egypt and Attains of Pergamum were bidding against each other for volumes for their respective libraries.^ Works were often interpolated then in order to make them larger and so bring a better price. Galen speaks more than once of the deplorable ease with which numbers, signs, and other abbreviations are altered in manuscripts.* A single stroke of the pen or slight erasure will completely change the mean- ing of a medical prescription. He thinks that such altera- tions are sometimes malicious and not mere mistakes. So common were they that Menecrates composed a medical work written out entirely in complete words and entitled Autocrat or H ologrammatos because it was also dedicated to the emperor. Another writer, Damocrates, from whom Galen often quotes long passages, composed his book of medicaments in metrical form so that there might be no mistake made even in complete words. Galen's works contain occasional historical information concerning many other matters than books and drugs. Clin- ton in his Fasti Roniani made much use of Galen for the chronology of the period in which he lived. His allusions to several of the emperors with whom he had personal re- lations are valuable bits of source-material. Trajan was, of course, before his time, but he testifies to the great im- provement of the roads in Italy which that emperor had effected.^ Galen sheds a little light on the vexed question Falsifica- tion and mistakes in manu- scripts. Galen as a historical source. ' XIV, 630. ' XIX, 34. "XV, 109. *XIII, 995-96; XIV, 31-32. 'X, 633. Duruy refers to the passage in his History of Rome (ed._ J. P. Mahafify, Boston, 1886, V, i, 273), but says, "Extensive sanitary works were undertaken throughout all Italy, and the cele- brated Galen, who was almost a contemporary, extols their happy effects upon the public health." But Galen does not have sanitary considerations especially in mind, since he mentions Trajan's road- building only by way of illustra- tion, comparing his own systematic 136 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. of the population of the empire, if Pergamum is the place he refers to in his estimate of forty thousand citizens or one hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants, including women and slaves but perhaps not children.^ Ancient Galen illustrates for us the evils of ancient slavery in slavery. . . . .... an incident which he relates to show the inadvisability of giving way to one's passions, especially anger.^ Returning from Rome, Galen fell in with a traveler from Gortyna in Crete. When they reached Corinth, the Cretan sent his baggage and slaves from Cenchrea^ to Athens by boat, but himself with a hired vehicle and two slaves went by land with Galen through Megara, Eleusis, and Thriasa. On the way the Cretan became so angry at the two slaves that he hit them with his sheathed sword so hard that the sheath broke and they were badly wounded. Fearing that they would die, he then made off to escape the consequences of his act, leaving Galen to look after the wounded. But later he rejoined Galen in penitent mood and insisted that Galen administer a beating to him for his cruelty. Galen adds that he himself, like his father, had never struck a slave with his own hand and had reproved friends who had broken their slaves' teeth with blows of their fists. Others go far- ther and kick their slaves or gouge their eyes out. The em- peror Hadrian in a moment of anger is said to have blinded a slave with a stylus which he had in his hand. He, too, was sorry afterwards and offered the slave money, but the latter refused it, telling the emperor that nothing could compen- sate him for the loss of an eye. In another passage Galen discusses how many slaves and "clothes" one really needs.* treatment of medicine to the em- now deserted and beset by wild peror's great work in repairing beasts so that they would pass and improving the roads, straight- through populous towns and more ening them by cut-offs that saved frequented areas. The passage distance, but sometimes abandon- thus bears witness to a shifting ing an old road that went straight of population, over hills for an easier route that ^V, 49. avoided them, filling in wet and ^ V, 17-19. marshy spots with stone or cross- ^ Mentioned in Acts, xviii, 18, ing them by causeways, bridging ". . . having shorn his head in impassable rivers, and altering Cenchrea : for he had a vow." routes that led through places *V, 46-47. IV GALEN 137 Galen also depicts the easy-going, sociable, and pleasure- Social loving society of his time. Not only physicians but men gen- ^nd wine erally begin the day with salutations and calls, then separate again, some to the market-place and lavvr courts, others to v^atch the dancers or charioteers.^ Others play at dice or pursue love affairs, or pass the hours at the baths or in eat- ing and drinking or some other bodily pleasure. In the evening they all come together again at symposia w^hich bear no resemblance to the intellectual feasts of Socrates and Plato but are mere drinking bouts. Galen had no objection, however, to the use of wine in moderation and mentions the varieties from different parts of the Mediterranean world which were especially noted for their medicinal properties.^ He believed that drinking wine discreetly relieved the mind from all worry and melancholy and refreshed it. *'For we use it every day." ^ He affirmed that taken in moderation wine aided digestion and the blood. ^ He classed wine with such boons to humanity as medicines, "a sober and decent mode of life," and "the study of literature and liberal dis- ciplines." ^ Galen's treatise in three books on food values {De aliment oriim faculfatibus) supplies information con- cerning the ancient table and dietary science. Galen's allusions to Judaism and Christianity are of con- Allusions siderable interest. He scarcely seems to have distinguished and ChriT- between them. In two passages in his treatise on differences tianity. in the pulse he makes incidental allusion to the followers of Moses and Christ, in both cases speaking of them rather lightly, not to say contemptuously. In criticizing Archi- genes for using vague and unintelligible language and not giving a sufficient explanation of the point in question, Galen says that it is "as if one had come to a school of ^X, 3-4. Tralles, "He has in most dis- *X, 831-36; XIII, 513; XIV, 27- tempers a separate article concern- 29, and 14-19 on the heating and ing wine and I much doubt storage of wine. whether there be in all nature a 3 jv ^^.7 .rr, "lO""^ excellent medicine than this iv, 77/-/y. in the hands of a skillful and * Similarly Milward (1733), p. judicious practitioner." 102, wrote of Alexander of "IV, 821. 138 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Moses and Christ and had heard undemonstrated laws."^ And in criticizing opposing sects for their obstinacy he re- marks that it would be easier to win over the followers of Moses and Christ.^ Later we shall speak more fully of a third passage in De iisu partium^ where Galen criticizes the Mosaic view of the relation of God to nature, representing it as the opposite extreme to the Epicurean doctrine of a purely mechanistic and materialistic universe. This sug- gests that Galen had read some of the Old Testament, but he might have learned from other sources of the Dead Sea and of salts of Sodom, of which he speaks in yet another context.^ According to a thirteenth century Arabian biog- rapher of Galen, he spoke more favorably of Christians in a lost commentary upon Plato's Republic, admiring their morals and admitting their miracles.^ This last, as we shall see, is unlikely, since Galen believed in a supreme Being who worked only through natural law. "A confection ol loachos, the martyr or metropolitan," and "A remedy for headache of the monk Barlama" occur in the third book of the De remediis parabilihus ascribed to Galen, but this third book is greatly interpolated or entirely spurious, citing Galen himself as well as Alexander of Tralles, the sixth century writer, and mentioning the Saracens. Wellmann regards it as composed between the seventh and eleventh centuries of our era.'' Like most thoughtful men of his time, Galen tended to believe in one supreme deity, but he appears to have derived * Ktihn, VIII, 579, ws eij Mwi)o-ou above passages. Particula 24 Kal Xpiarov diarpitiriv & bodies? cerning human anatomy and physiology. Certainly he speaks as if opportunities to secure human cadavers or even skeletons were rare.^ He mentions, however, the possibil- ity of obtaining the bodies of criminals condemned to death or cast to beasts in the arena, or the corpses of robbers which lie unburied in the mountains, or the bodies of in- fants exposed by their parents.^ It is not sufficient, he states in another passage,^ to read books about human bones; one should have them before one's eyes. Alexan- dria is the best place for the student to go to see actual ex- hibitions of this sort made by the teachers."^ But even if one cannot go there, one may be able to procure human bones for oneself, as Galen did from a skeleton which had ^Kiihn, V, 216, cited by Payne. *II, 384-86. *Kiihn, II, 642-49; IV, 703-36, e tt "An in arteriis natura sanguis , ^ u 1. contineatur." J. Kidd, A Cursory ^Augustine testifies in two pas- Analysis of the Works of Galen sages of his Dc anima et eius so far as they relate to Anatomy origine (Migne PL 44, 475-548), and Physiology, in Transactions that vivisection of human beings of the Provincial Medical and was practiced as late as his time, Surgical Association, VI (1837), the early fifth century: IV, 3, 299-336. "Medici tamen qui appellantur ^Lancet (1896), p. 1137, where anatomici per membra per venas Payne states that Colombo {De per nervos per ossa per medullas re anatomica, Venet. 1559, XIV, per interiora vitalia etiam vivos 261) was the first to prove by ex- homines quamdiu inter manus periment on the living heart that rimantium vivere potuerunt dis- these veins conveyed blood from siciendo scrutati sunt ut naturam the lungs. corporis nossent"; and IV, 6 *II, 146-47. (Migne, PL 44, 528-9). 148 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. been washed out of a grave by a flooded stream and from the corpse of a robber slain in the mountains. If one can- not get to see a human skeleton by these means or some other, he should dissect monkeys and apes. Dissection Indeed Galen advises the student to dissect apes in any case, in order to prepare himself for intelligent dissection of the human body, should he ever have the opportunity. From lack of such previous experience the doctors with the army of Marcus Aurelius, who dissected the body of a dead German, learned nothing except the position of the entrails. Galen at any rate dissected a great many animals. Tiny animals and insects he let alone, for the microscope was not yet discovered, but besides apes and quadrupeds he cut up many reptiles, mice, weasels, birds, and fish.^ He also gives an amusing account of the medical men at Rome gathering to observe the dissection of an elephant in order to discover whether the heart had one or two vertices and two or three ventricles. Galen assured them beforehand that it would be found similar to the heart of any other breathing animal. This particular dissection was not, how- ever, performed exclusively in the interests of science, since it was scarcely accomplished when the heart was carried off, not to a scientific museum, but by the imperial cooks to their master's table.^ Galen sometimes dissected animals the moment he killed them. Thus he observed that the lungs always sensibly shrank from the diaphragm in a dying animal, whether he killed it by suffocation in water, or strangling with a noose, or severing the spinal medulla near the first vertebrae, or cutting the large arteries or veins. ^ Surgical Surgical operations and medical practice were a third operations, ^ay of learning the human anatomy, and Galen complains of the carelessness of those physicians and surgeons who do not take pains to observe it before performing an oper- ation or cure. He himself had had one case where the * n, 537, * II, 619-20. • II, 701. IV GALEN 149 human heart was laid bare and yet the patient recovered.^ As a young practitioner before he came to Rome Galen worked out so successful a method of treating wounds of the sinews that the care of the health of the gladiators in his native city of Pergamum was entrusted to him by sev- eral successive pontifices - and he hardly lost a life. In the same passage he again speaks contemptuously of the doctors in the war with the Germans who were allowed to cut open the bodies of the barbarians but learned no more thereby than a cook would. When Galen came from Pergamum to Rome he found the professions of physicians and surgeons distinct and left cases to the latter which he before had at- tended to himself.^ We may note finally that he invented a new form of surgical knife.* In Galen's opinion the study of anatomy was important Galen's for the philosopher as well as for the physician. An under- froJJJ"^"* standing of the use of the parts of the body is helpful to design, the doctor, he says, but much more so to "the philosopher of medicine who strives to obtain knowledge of all nature." ^ In the De iisu partium ^ he came to the conclusion that in the structure of any animal we have the mark of a wise workman or demiurge, and of a celestial mind; and that "the investigation of the use of the parts of the body lays the foundation of a truly scientific theology which is much greater and more precious than all medicine," and which reveals the divinity more clearly than even the Eleusinian mysteries or Samothracian orgies. Thus Galen adopts the argument from design for the existence of God. The mod- ern doctrine of evolution is of course subversive of his premise that the parts of the body are so well constructed for and marvelously adapted to their functions that nothing better is possible, and consequently of his conclusion that this necessitates a divine maker and planner. ^IT, 631 ff. cal bearing. ''XIII, 599-600. Galen states ' X, 454-55. that the pontifex's term of * II, 682. office was seven months, a fact ^11, 291. which perhaps had some astrologi- " IV, 360, et passim. 150 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Queries concerning the soul. No super- natural force in medicine. In the treatise De foetuum formatione Galen displays a similar inclination but more tentatively and timidly. He thinks that the human body attests the wisdom and power of its maker/ whom he wishes the philosophers would re- veal to him more clearly and tell him "whether he is some wise and powerful god."^ The process of the formation of the child in the womb, the complex human muscular system, the human tongue alone, seem to him so wonderful that he will not subscribe to the Epicurean denial of any all-ruling providence.^ He thinks that nature alone cannot show such wisdom. He has, however, sought vainly from philosopher after philosopher for a satisfactory demonstra- tion of the existence of God, and is by no means certain himself.* Galen is also at a loss concerning the existence and sub- stance of the soul. He points out that puppies try to bite before their teeth come and that calves try to hook before their horns grow, as if the soul knew the use of these parts beforehand. It might be argued that the soul itself causes the parts to grow,^ but Galen questions this, nor is he ready to accept the Platonic world-soul theory of a divine force permeating all nature.^ It offends his instinctive piety and sense of fitness to think of the world-soul in such things as reptiles, vermin, and putrefying corpses. On the other hand, he disagrees with those who deny any innate knowl- edge or standards to the soul and attribute everything to sense perception and certain imaginations and memories based thereon. Some even deny the existence of the rea- soning faculty, he says, and affirm that we are led by the affections of the senses like cattle. For these men courage, prudence, temperance, continence are mere names. "^ In commenting upon the works of Hippocrates, Galen insists that in speaking of "something divine" in diseases ^ IV, 687. soul constructs the parts and * IV, 694, 696. another soul incites them to vol- * IV, 688. untary motion. *IV, 700. ejY „j ' IV, 692 ; II, 537. Others con- " ' 7"^' tend, he says (IV, 693), that one *II, 28. IV GALEN 151 Hippocrates could not have meant supernatural influence, which he never admits into medicine in other passages. Galen tries to explain away the expression as having ref- erence to the effect of the surrounding air.^ Thus while Galen might look upon nature or certain things in nature as a divine work, he would not admit any supernatural force in science or medicine, or anything bordering upon special providence. In the De usu partiiim Galen states that he agrees with Moses that "the beginning of genesis in all things generated" was "from the demiurge," but that he does not agree with him that anything is possible with God and that God can suddenly turn a stone into a man or make a horse or cow from ashes. "In this matter our opinion and that of Plato and of others among the Greeks who have written correctly concerning natural science differs from the view of Moses." In Galen's view God attempts nothing contrary to nature but of all possible natural courses invariably chooses the best. Thus Galen expresses his admiration at nature's providence in keeping the eye- brows and eyelashes of the same length and not letting them grow long like the beard or hair, but this is because a harder cartilaginous flesh is provided for them to grow in, and the mere will of God would not keep hairs from growing in soft flesh. If God had not provided the carti- laginous substance for the eyelashes, "he would have been more careless, not merely than Moses but than a worthless general who builds a wall in a swamp." ^ As between the views on God of Moses and Epicurus, Galen prefers to steer a middle course. Already in describing Galen's dissections and tests with Galen's the pulse we have seen evidence of the accurate observation mental and experimental instincts which accompanied his zest for '"^t*"*^** hard work and zeal for truth. In one of his treatises he * XVIII B, I7ff. Moses Maimonides in the twelfth ^ De usu partium, XI, 14 (Kiihn, century took exception at some 111,905-7). The passage seems to length, in the 2Sth Particula of me an integral part of the work his Aphorisms from Galen, to this and not a later interpolation. criticism of his national lawgiver. 152 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Attitude towards authori- ties. confesses that it was a passion of his always to test every- thing for himself. "And if anyone accuses me of this, I will confess my disease, from which I have suffered all my life long, that I have trusted no one of those who narrate such things until I have tested it myself, if it was possible for me to have experience of it," ^ Galen also recognized that general theories were not sufficient for exact knowledge and that specific examples seen with one's own eyes were indispensable.^ He maintains that, if all teachers and writers would realize and observe this, they would make comparatively few false statements. He saw the danger of making absolute assertions and the need of noting the particular circumstances of each individual case.^ Galen more than once declared that things, not names, were im- portant and refused to waste time in disputing about termin- ology and definitions which might be spent in "pursuing the knowledge of things themselves." * Thus we see in Galen a pragmatic scientist intent upon concrete facts and exact knowledge ; but at the same time it must be recognized that he accepted some universal theorems and general views. Galen did not believe in merely repeating in new books the statements of previous authorities. Ever since boy- hood, he writes in his Anatomical Administrations, it has seemed to him that one should record in writing only one's new discoveries and not repeat what has been said already.^ Nevertheless in some of his writings he collects the pre- scriptions of past physicians at great length, and a previous treatise by Archigenes is practically embodied in one of Galen's works on compound medicines. On another occa- sion, however, after stating that Crito had combined previ- ous treatises upon cosmetics, including the work of Cleo- patra, into four books of his own which constitute a well- nigh exhaustive treatment of the subject, Galen says that ^IV, 513; see also II, 55, cos ?7w7e 'XIII, 964. irpwrov niv &Kovaai t6 yivonevov, kdavfxaaa ''II, 136; X, 3^5 J XII, 3II > he Kal avrbs e^ovXrjdijv aiiTowTrjs airov Kara- credited Plato with the same atti- CT^j'tti. tude, see II, 581. 'X, 608; XIII, 887-88. MI, 659-60. IV GALEN 153 he sees no profit in copying Crito's work again and merely reproduces its table of contents.^ On the other hand, as this passage shows, Galen thought that the ancients had stated many things admirably and he had little patience with contemporaries who would learn nothing from them but were always ambitiously weaving new and complicated dog- mas, or misinterpreting and perverting the teachings of the ancients.^ His method was rather first to "make haste and stretch every nerve to learn what the most celebrated of the ancients have said ;" ^ then, having mastered this teach- ing, to judge it and put it to the test for a long time and determine by observation how much of it agrees and how much disagrees with actual phenomena, and then embrace the former portion and reject the latter. This critical employment of past authorities is frequently Adverse illustrated in Galen's works. He mentions a great many of p^st names of past physicians and writers, thereby shedding some writers, light upon the history of Greek medicine; but at times he criticizes his predecessors, not sparing even Empedocles and Aristotle. Although he cites Aristotle a great deal, he declares that it is not surprising that Aristotle made many errors in the anatomy of animals, since he thought that the heart in large animals had a third ventricle.^ As we have already seen in discussing the topic of weights and measurements, Galen especially objects to the vagueness and inaccuracy of many past medical writers,^ or praises in- dividuals like Heras who give specific information.^ He also shows a preference for writers who give first-hand information, commending Heraclides of Tarentum as a trustworthy man, if there ever was one, who set down only those things proved by his own experience.'^ Galen declares that one could spend a life-time in reading the books that have already been written upon medicinal simples. He urges his readers, however, to abstain from Andreas and 'XII, 446. 'XIII, 891. "11, 141, 179. 6YTTT Ain IT "11, 179; X, 609. ^^^^' 430-31. *II, 621. ^XIII, 717. IS4 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Galen's estimate of Dios- corides. Galen's dogma- tism : logic and ex- perience. other liars of that stamp, and above all to eschew Pamphilus who never saw even in a dream the herbs which he describes. Of all previous writers upon materia niedica Galen pre- ferred Dioscorides. He writes, "But Anazarbensis Dios- corides in five books discussed all useful material not only of herbs but of trees and fruits and juices and liquors, treat- ing besides both all metals and the parts of animals." ^ Yet he does not hesitate to criticize certain statements of Dios- corides, such as the story of mixing goat's blood with the terra sigillata of Lemnos. Dioscorides had also attributed marvelous virtues to the stone Gagates which he said came from a river of that name in Lycia; Galen's comment is that he has skirted the entire coast of Lycia in a small boat and found no such stream.^ He also wonders that Dios- corides described butter as made of the milk of sheep and goats, and correctly states that "this drug" is made from cows' milk.^ Galen does not mention its use as a food in his work on medicinal simples, and in his treatise upon food values he alludes to butter rather incidentally in the chap- ter on milk, stating that it is a fatty substance and easily recognized by tasting it, that it has many of the properties of oil, and in cold countries is sometimes used in baths in place of oil.^ Galen further criticizes Dioscorides for his unfamiliarity with the Greek language and consequent fail- ure to grasp the significance of many Greek names. Daremberg said of Galen that he represented at the same time the most exaggerated dogmatism and the most ad- vanced experimental school. There is some justification for the paradox, though the latter part seems to me the truer. But Galen was proud of his training in philosophy and logic and mathematics; he stood fast by many Hippo- cratic dogmas such as the four qualities theory, he thought ^ that in medicine as in geometry there were a certain num- *XI, 794; also XIII, 658; XIV, "XII, 272. 61-62, and many other passages of the Antidotes. *XII, 203. Pliny, NH XXXVI, 34, makes the same statement as Dioscorides. * Pliny, NH XXVIII, 35, how- ever, both tells how butter is made and of its use as food among the barbarians. "^X, 40-41 IV GALEN 155 ber of self-evident maxims upon which reason, conforming to the rules of logic, might build up a scientific structure. In the De methodo medendi ^ he makes a distinction be- tween the discovery of drugs and medicines, simple or com- pound, by experience and the methodical treatment of dis- ease which he now sets forth and which should proceed log- ically and independently of mere empiricism, and he wishes that other medical writers would make it clear when they are relying merely on experience and when exclusively upon reason.^ At the same time he expresses his dislike for mere dogmatizers who shout their ipse dixits like tyrants with- out the support either of reason or experience.^ He also grants that the ordinary man, taught by nature alone, often instinctively pursues a better course of action for his health than "the sophists" are able to advise.* Indeed, he is of the opinion that some doctors would do well to stick to experi- ence alone and not try to mix in reasoning, since they are not trained in logic, and when they endeavor to divide or analyze a theme, perform like unskilled carvers who fail to find the joints and mutilate the roast. ^ Later on in the same work ^ he again affirms that persons who will not read and profit by the books of medical authorities and whose own reasoning is defective, should limit themselves to ex- perience. Normally, however, Galen upholds both reason and ex- Galen's perience as criteria of truth against the opposing schools account of of Dogmatics and Empirics. The former attacked experi- pirics. ence as uncertain and impossible to regulate, slow and un- methodical. The latter replied that experience was con- sistent, adaptable to art, and proof enough.'^ Galen's chief objection to the Empirics is that they reject reason as a cri- terion of truth and wish the medical art to be irrational.^ "The Empirics say that all things are discovered by experi- ^X, 127, 962. «X, 915-16. 'X, 31. 'I, 75-76: XIV, 367. \ X, 29. » I, 145 ; II. 41-43 ; X, 30-31, 782- *X, 668. 83; XIII, 188, 366, 375, 463, 579, X, 123. 594, 892 ; XIV, 245, 679. 156 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. ence, but we say that some are found by experience and some by reason." ^ Galen also objects to Herodotus's ex- planation of the medical art as originating in the conversa- tion of patients exposed at crossroads who told one another of their complaints and recoveries and thus evolved a fund of common experience.^ Galen criticizes such experience as irrational and not yet put into scientific form (ov-koo Xoyut?) . Of the Empirics he tells us further that they regard phenomena only and ignore causes and put no trust in rea- soning. They hold that there is no system or necessary order in medical discovery or doctrine, and that some rem- edies have been discovered by dreams, others by chance. They also accepted written accounts of past experiences and thus to a certain extent trusted in tradition. Galen argues that they should test these statements of past authorities by reason.^ His further contention that, if they test them by experience, they might as well reject all writings and trust only to present experience from the start, is a sophistical quibble unworthy of him. He adds, however, that the Em- pirics themselves say that past tradition or "history" ( taTOpla) should not be judged by experience, but it is unlikely that he represents their view correctly in this par- ticular. In another passage ^ he says that they distinguish three kinds of experience, chance or accidental, offhand or impromptu, and imitative or the repetition of the same thing. In a third passage ^ he repeats that they held that observation of one or two instances was not enough, but that oft-repeated observation was needed with all conditions the same each time. In yet another place ® he says that the Empirics observe coincidences in things joined by experi- ence. He himself defines experience as the comprehending and remembering of something seen often and in the same condition,'^ and makes the good point that one cannot ob- serve satisfactorily without use of reason.^ He also admits ^X, 159- "I. 135. ' XIV, 675-76. ' XIV, 680. *I, T44-SS. 'I, 131. 'XVI. 82. 'I, 134- IV GALEN 157 in one place that some Empirics are ready to employ reason as well as experience.-^ Having noted Galen's criticism of the Empirics, we may How the imagine what their attitude would be towards his medicine, ^i^h*"^^ They would probably reject all his theories — which we, too, have criticized have finally discarded — of four elements and four qualities Galen, and the like, and would accept only his specific recommenda- tions for the cure of disease based upon his medical experi- ence; except that they would also be credulous concerning anything which he assured them was based upon his own or another's experience, whether it truly was or not. They would, however, have probably questioned much of his anatomical inference from the dissection of the lower ani- mals, since he tells us that they "have written whole books against anatomy." ^ Considering the state of knowledge in their time, their refusal to attempt any large generalizations or to hazard any scientific hypotheses or to build any risky medical system was in a way commendable, but their cre- dulity as to particulars was a weakness. On the whole Galen's attitude towards experience seems Galen's an improvement upon theirs. He was apparently more criti- of "eason cal towards the "experiences" of past writers than the and ex- perience. average Empiric, and in his combination of reason and ex- perience he came a little nearer to modern experimental method. Reason alone, he says, discovers some things, experience alone discovers some, but to find others requires use of both experience and reason.^ In his treatise upon critical days he keeps reiterating that their existence is proved both by reason and experience. These two instruments in judging things given us by nature supplement each other.* "Logical methods have force in finding what is sought, but in believing what has been well found there are two criteria for all men, reason and experience." ^ "What can you do with men who cannot be persuaded either by reason or by 'XVI, 82. *XIII, 1 16-17. ^11, 288. " IX, 842 ; XIII, 887. " X, 28-29. 158 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Simples knowable only from experi- ence. practice ?" ^ Galen also speaks of discovering a truth by logic and being thereby encouraged to try it in practice and of then verifying it by experience.^ This, however, is not quite the same thing as saying that the scientist should aim to discover new truth by purposive experiments, or that from a number of experiences reason may infer some gen- eral law of nature. It is perhaps in his work on medicinal simples that Galen lays most stress upon the importance of experience. In- deed he sees no other way to learn the properties of natural objects than through the experience of the senses.^ *'For by the gods," he exclaims, "how is it that we know that fire is hot? Are we taught it by some syllogism or persuaded of it by some demonstration? And how do we learn that ice is cold except from the senses ?" * And Galen sees no advantage in spending further time in arguments and hair- splitting where one can learn the truth at once from the senses. This thought he keeps repeating through the trea- tise, saying, for example, "The surest judge of all will be experience alone, and those who abandon it and reason on any other basis not only are deceived but destroy the value of the treatise." ^ Moreover, he restricts his account of me- dicinal simples to those with which he is personally ac- quainted. In the three books treating of plants he does not mention all those found in all parts of the world, but only as many as it has been his privilege to know by experience.* He proposes to follow the same rule in the ensuing discussion of animals and to say nothing of virtues which he has not tested or of substances mentioned in the writings of past physi- cians but unknown to him. He dares not trust their state- ments when he reflects how some have lied in such matters. In the middle ages Albertus Magnus talks in much the same strain in his works on animals, plants, and minerals, and perhaps he was stimulated to such ideals, consciously or un- ^X, 684. 'X, 454-55. •XI, 420. 'XI, 434-35. 'XI, 456. XII, 246. IV GALEN 1 59 consciously, directly by reading Galen or indirectly through Arabic works, by Galen's earlier expression of them. Galen mentions some virtues ascribed to substances which he has tested by experience and found false, such as the medicinal properties attributed to the belly of a seagulP and some of those claimed for the marine animal called torpedo.^ Anointing the place with frog's blood or dog's milk will not prevent eyebrows that have been plucked out from grow- ing again, nor will bat's blood and viper's fat remove hair from the arm-pits.^ Also the brain of a hare is only fairly good for boys' teeth.* In beginning his work on food values ^ Galen states that Experi- cncG 3.11(1 many have discussed the properties of aliments, some on the food basis of reason alone, some on the basis of experience alone, science, but that their statements do not agree. On the whole, since reasoning is not easy for everyone, requiring natural sagac- ity and training from childhood, he thinks it better to start from experience, especially since not a few physicians are of the opinion that only thus can the properties of foods be learned. The Empirics contended that most compound medicines Experi- had been hit upon by chance, and Galen grants that the com- Dogmatics usually are unable to give reasons for the in- Po^-"<^s. gredients of their doses and find difficulty in reproducing a lost prescription.^ But he holds that reasons can be given for the constituents of the compound and that the logical discovery of such remedies differs from the empirical.'^ His own method was to learn the nature of each disease and the varied properties of simples, and then prepare a compound suited to the disease and to the patient.^ On the other hand, we see how much depends upon experience from his con- fession that sometimes he has hastily prepared a compound from a few simples, sometimes from more, sometimes from a great variety. If the compound worked well, he would 'XII, 336. "VI, 453-55. •XII, 365. "XIII, 463. •XII, 258, 262, 269, 331. ■'XII, 895. * XII, 334. ' XIV, 222. i6o MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Sugges- tions of experi- mental method continue to use it, sometimes making it stronger and some- times weaker,^ For as you cannot put together compounds without rational method, so you cannot tell their strength certainly and accurately without experience.^ He admits that no one can tell the exact quantity of each ingredient to employ without the aid of experience,^ and says, "The proper proportions in the mixture we shall find conjectur- ally before experience, scientifically after experience." ^ In these treatises upon compound medicines, unlike that on medicinal simples, Galen gives the prescriptions of former physicians as well as some tested by his own experience.*^ Sometimes, however, he expresses a preference for the med- icines of those writers who were "most experienced" ; and once says that he will give some compounds of the more recent writers, who in their turn had selected the best from older writers of long experience and added later discoveries.® We suspect, however, that some of these prescriptions had not been tested for centuries. Galen gives a few directions how to regulate medical observation and experience, although they cannot be said to carry us very far on the road to modern laboratory research. He saw the value of "long experience," a phrase which he often employs.'^ He states that one experience is enough to learn how to prepare a drug, but to learn to know the best medicines in each kind and in different places many experi- ences are required.^ Medicinal simples should be frequently inspected, "since the knowledge of things perceived by the senses is strengthened by careful examination." ® Galen ad- vises the student of medicine to study herbs, trees, and fruit as they grow, to find out when it is best to pluck them, how to preserve them, and so on. But elsewhere he states that it is possible to estimate the general virtue of the simple *XIII, 700-701. *XIII, 706-707. "Xlll, 467. *XIII, 867. 'XII, 392-93, 884; XIII, 116-17, 123, 125, 128-29, 354, 485, 502-503, 582, 656. "XII, 968, 988. 'See XII, 988 XIV, 12, 60, 341. «XIV, 82. •XIII, S70. XIII, 960-61; IV GALEN i6i from one or two experiences.-^ However, he suggests that their effect be noted in the three cases of a perfectly heahhy person, a sHghtly aihng patient, and a really sick man.^ In the last case one should further note their varying effects as the disease is marked by any excess of heat, cold, dryness, or m.oisture. Care should be taken that the simples them- selves are pure and free from any admixture of a foreign substance.^ "It is also essential to test the relation to the nature of the patient of all those things of which great use is made in the medical art." ^ One condition to be observed in experimental investigation of critical days is to count no cases where any slip has been made by physician or patient or bystanders or where any other foreign factor has done harm.^ Galen was acquainted with physical experiments in siphoning, for he says that, if one withdraws the air from a vessel containing sand and water, the sand will follow be- fore the water, which is the heavier {sic?).^ Galen also points out some of the difficulties of medi- Difficulty cal experimentation. One is the extreme unlikelihood of experi-*'^^ ever being able to observe in even two cases the same com- ment. bination of symptoms and circumstances.'^ The other is the danger to the life of the patient from rash experiment- ing.^ Thus Galen more than once tells us of abstaining from testing some remedy because he had others of whose effects he was surer. In the treatise on easily procurable remedies ascribed Empirical to Galen,^ in which we have already seen evidence of later interpolation or authorship, some recipes are concluded by ^XII, 350. book, O Glaucon, ends thus. If it *XVI, 86-87; XI, 518. has been useful to you, you will * XI, 485. readily follow what I've written *XVI, 85. to Salomon the archiater." But *IX, 842. then the present second book *II, 206. opens with the words (XIV, 390), ' I, 138. "Since you've asked me to write * XVI, 80. you about easily procurable reme- * There would seem to be some- dies, O dearest Solon," and goes thing wrong, at least with its ar- on to say that the author will state rangement as it now stands, for what he has learned from experi- the first book ends (XIV, 389) ence beginning with the hair and with the words, "This my fourth closing with the feet. remedies. 1 62 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Galen's influence upon medieval experi- ment. such expressions as, "This has been experienced; it works unceasingly," ^ or "Another remedy tested by us in many cases." ^ This became a custom in many subsequent medi- cal works, including those of the middle ages. One recipe is introduced by the caution, "But don't cure anybody un- less you have been paid first, for this has been tested in many cases." ^ But we are left in some doubt whether we should infer that remedies tested by experience are so su- perior that they call for cash payment rather than credit, or so uncertain that it is advisable that the physician secure his fee before the outcome is known. In the middle ages the word experimentiim was used a great deal as a synonym for any medical treatment, recipe, or prescription. Galen ap- proaches this usage, which we have already noticed in Pliny's Natural History, when he describes "a very important ex- periment" in bleeding performed by certain doctors at Rome.* Indeed Galen appears to have exerted a great influence in the middle ages by his passages concerning experience in particular as well as by his medicine in general. Medieval writers cite him as an authority for the recognition of ex- perience and reason as criteria of truth.^ Gilbert of Eng- land cites "experiences from the book of experiments ex- perienced by Galen," ^ and we shall find more than one such apocryphal work ascribed to Galen in the middle ages. John of St. Amand seems to have developed seven rules '^ which he gives for discovering experimentally the prop- erties of medicinal simples from what we have heard Galen say on the subject, and in another work, the Concordances, John collects a number of passages about experience from ^ XIV, 378. 'XIV, 462. 'XIV, 534. ^XI, 205. °John of St. Amand, Expositio in Antidotarium Nicolai, fol. 231, in Mesuae niedici clarissimi opera, Venice, 1568. Pietro d'Abano, Conciliator, Venice, 1526, Difif. X, fol. 15; Difif. LX, fol. 83. Arnald of Villanova, Repetitio super Canon "Vita brevis," fol. 276, in his Opera, Lyons, 1532. " Gilbertus Anglicus, Compen^ dium mcdicinae, Lyons, 15 10, fol. 328V., "Experimenta ex libro ex- perimentorum Gal. experta." ' In his Expositio in Antido- tarium Nicolai, as cited above (note 5). IV GALEN 163 the works o£ Galen. ^ Peter of Spain, who died as Pope John XXI in 1277, cites Galen in his discussion of "the way of experience" and "the way of reason" in his Com- mentaries on Isaac on Diets. ^ We have already suggested Galen's possible influence upon Albertus Magnus, and we might add Roger Bacon who wrote some treatises on medi- cine. But it is hardly possible to tell whether such ideas were in the air, or were due to Galen individually either in their origin or their transmission. But he made a rather close approach to the medieval attitude in his equal regard for logic and for experimentation. The more general influence of Galen upon all sides of His more the medicine of the following fifteen centuries has often medieval been stated in sweeping terms, but is difficult to exaggerate, influence. His general theories, his particular cures, his occasional mar- velous stories, were often repeated or paraphrased. Ori- basius has been called "the ape of Galen," and we shall see that the epithet might with equal reason be applied to Aetius of Amida. Indeed, as in the case of Pliny, we shall find plenty of instances of Galen's influence in our later chap- ters. Perhaps as good a single instance of medieval study of Galen as could be given is from the Concordances of John of St. Amand already mentioned, which bear the alterna- tive title, "Recalled to Mind" {Revocativum memoriae), since they were written to "relieve from toil and worry scholars who often spend sleepless nights in searching for points in the books of Galen." ^ Or we may note how the associates of the twelfth century translator from the Arabic, Gerard of Cremona, added a list of his works at the close of his translation of Galen's Tegni, "imitating Galen in the commemoration of his books at the end of the same trea- tise," as they themselves state.* Not that medieval men did not make additions of their ^J. L. Pagel, Die Concordanciae XXI, 263-65). dcs Johannes de Sancto Amando, ^ ed. Lyons, 1515, fols. 19V-20V. Berlin, 1894, pp. 102-104. John 'Berlin, 902, I4tli century, fol. also wrote commentaries on Galen, 175; Berlin 903, 1342 / .D., fol. 2. (Histoire Litteraire de la France, * Boncompagni (1851), pp. 3-4. 164 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. own to Galen. For instance, the noted Jewish philosopher, Moses Maimonides, in adding his collection of medical Aphorisms to the many previous compilations of this sort by Hippocrates, Rasis (Muhammad ibn Zakariya), Mesne (Yuhanna ibn Masawaih), and others, states that he has drawn them mainly from the works of Galen, but that he supplements these with some in his own name and some by other "moderns."^ Not that Galen was not sometimes criti- cized or questioned. A later Greek writer, Symeon Seth, ventured to devote a special treatise to a refutation of some of Galen's physiological views. In it, addressing himself to those "persons who regard you, O Galen, as a god," he endeavored to make them realize that no human being is infalHble.^ Among the medical treatises of Gentile da Fo- ligno, who was papal physician and performed a public dis- section at Padua in 1341,^ is found a brief argument against Galen's fifth aphorism.* But such criticism or opposition ^ Moses ben Maimon, Apho- risms, 1489. "Incipiunt aphorismi excellentissimi Raby Moyses se- cundum doctrinam Galieni medi- corum principis . . . coUegi eos ex verbis Galieni de omnibus libris suis. . . . Et ego protuli super his aflforismis quedam dicta que circumspexi et ea m.eo nomine nominavi et similiter protuli ali- quos aphorismos aliquorum mod- ernorum quos denominavi eorum nomine." * Ed. C. V. Daremberg, Notices et Extraits dcs manuscrits mcdi- caux, 1853, pp. 44-47, Greek text; pp. 229-33, French translation. * Garrison, History of Medicine, 2nd edition, 1917, p. 141. But at p. 151 Garrison would seem mistaken in stating that Gentile died in 1348, for in the MS of which I shall speak in the next footnote his treatise on critical days is dated back in the year 1362: "Tractatus de enumeratione die- rum creticorum m'i Gentilis anni 1362," at f ol. 125 ; while at fol. 162 we read, "Explicit questio . . . m'i Zentilis anno Domini 1359 de mense marcii, et scripta Pisis de mense octobris 1359." It is pos- sible but rather unlikely that the dates later than 1348 refer to the labors of copyists. Venetian MSS contain not only a De reductione medicinarum isd actum by Gen- tile, written at Perugia in April, 1342 (S. Marco, XIV, 7, 14th cen- tury, fols. 44-48) ; but also "Sug- gestions concerning the pestilence which was at Genoa in 1348," by him (S. Marco, XIV, 26, 15th century, fols. 99-iGO, consilia de peste quae fuit lanuae anno 1348). Valentinelli's catalogue of the MSS in the Library of St. Mark's does not help, however, to clear up the question when Gentile died, since in one place (IV, 235) Va- lentinelli assures us that he died at Bologna in 13 10, and in another place (V, 19) says that he died at Perugia in 1348. * Cortona no, early years of 15th century, fol. 128, Rationes Gentilis contra Galenum in quinto aphorismi. This MS contains sev- eral other works by Gentile da Foligno. IV GALEN i6s only shows how generally Galen was accepted as an author- ity. III. His Attitude Towards Magic From Galen's habits of critical estimation rather than blind acceptation of authority, of scientific observation, care- ful measurement, and personal experiment, from his bril- liant demonstrations by dissection, and his medical prognos- tication and therapeutics, sane and shrewd for his time, — from these we have now to turn to the other side of the pic- ture, and examine what information his works afford us concerning the magic and astrology in ancient medicine, con- cerning the belief in occult virtues, suspensions, characters, incantations, and the like. We may first consider what he has to say concerning magic and divination as he under- stands those words, and then take up his attitude to those other matters which we look upon as almost equally deserv- ing classification under those heads. Apollonius of Tyana and Apuleius of Madaura were Accusa- not the only celebrated men of learning in the early Roman ^°"^ic° Empire to be accused of magic ; we have already alluded to against the charges of magic made against Galen by the envious physicians of Rome during his first residence in that city. It is hard to escape the conviction that at that time learned men were very liable to be suspected or accused of magic. Indeed, Galen makes the general assertion that when a phy- sician prognosticates aright concerning the future course of a malady, this seems so marvelous to most men that they would receive him with great affection, if they did not often regard him as a wizard.^ Soon after saying this, Galen begins the story of the prognostications he made and the cure he wrought, when all the other doctors took an oppo- site view of the case.- One of them then jealously sug- gested that Galen's diagnosis was due to divination.^ When asked by what kind of divination, he gave different answers *XIV, 6oi. »XIV, 605. «XIV, 615. i66 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. at different times and to different persons, sometimes say- ing by dreams, sometimes by sacrificing, again by symbols, or by astrology. Afterwards such charges against Galen kept multiplying.^ As a result, Galen says that since then he has not gone about advertising his prognostications like a herald, lest the physicians and philosophers hate him the more and slander him as a wizard and diviner, but that he now reveals his discoveries only to his friends.^ In another treatise he represents Hippocrates as saying that a proficient doctor should be able to prognosticate the course of diseases, but adds that contemporary physicians call such a doctor a sorcerer and wonder-worker (7077x0 re /cat ■Kapa.ho^dKoyov') .^ Again in his work on medicinal simples ^ he states that he abstained from testing the supposed virtue of crocodile's blood in sharpening the vision, and the blood of house mice in removing warts, partly because he had other reliable eye- medicines and cures for warts — such as myrmecia, a gem with wart-like lumps, partly because by employing such sub- stances he feared to incur the reputation of a sorcerer, since jealous physicians were already slandering his medical prog- nostications as divination. This last passage affords a good illustration of the close connection with magic of certain natural substances supposed to possess marvelous virtues, while Galen's wart stone also seems magical to the modern reader. Galen himself sometimes calls other physicians magicians. Certain men with whom he does not agree are called by him "liars or wizards or I don't know what to say," ^ and an- other man who used mouse dung to excess he calls super- stitious and a sorcerer.^ In the same work on simples '^ he says that he will list herbs in alphabetical order as Pamphilus did, but that he will not like him descend to old wives' tales, Egyptian sorceries and incantations, amulets and other mag- ical devices, which not only do not belong in the medical art 'XIV, 625. «XII, 306. 'XIV, 655. .XII ,07 '1, 54-55. ' ^ ^• '•XII, 263. 'XI, 792-93 IV GALEN 167 but are utterly false. Pamphilus never saw most of the herbs he mentioned, much less tested their virtues, but copied anything he found, piling up names, incantations, and wizardry. Galen accuses Xenocrates Aphrodisiensis also of not having eschewed sorcery, and he notes that medical writers have either said nothing about sweat or what is superstitious and bordering upon magic.-^ Philters, love-charms, dream-draughts, and imprecations Charms Galen regards as impossible or injurious, and intends to ^"^ , have nothing to do with them. He thinks it ridiculous to workers. believe that by such spells one can bewitch one's adversaries so that they cannot plead in court, or conceive or bear chil- dren. He considers it worse to advertise and perpetuate such false or criminal notions in writings than to practice such a crime but once.- In one passage,^ however, to illus- trate his theory that the gods prepare the sperms of plants and animals, and set them going as it were, and afterwards leave them to themselves, Galen compares them to the won- der-workers— who were perhaps not magicians but men similar to our sidewalk fakirs who exhibit mechanical toys— who start things moving and then go away themselves while what they have prepared moves on artificially for a time. Galen's own works are not entirely free from the magi- Animal cal devices of which he accuses others. We may begin with fnadmiV^^ animal substances, since he himself has testified that the sible in use of sweat, crocodile's blood, and mouse's dung is sug- gestive of magic. Moreover, he attributes more bizarre virtues to the parts of animals than to herbs or stones. In a passage somewhat similar to that in which Pliny * ex- pressed his horror at the use of human blood, entrails, and skulls as medicines, Galen declares that he will not men- tion the abominable and detestable, as Xenocrates and some others have done. The Roman law has long forbidden eat- ing human flesh, while Galen regards even the mention of certain secretions and excrements of the human body as 'XII, 283. "IV, 688. "XII, 251-53. '^Natural Historv. XXVIII. 2. i68 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Nastiness of ancient medicine. Parts of animals. offensive to modest ears.^ Nevertheless, before long he of- fends against his own standard and describes how he ad- ministered to patients the very substance which he had be- fore characterized as most unmentionable.^ It may also be noted that he repeats unquestioningly such a tale as that the cubs of the bear are born unformed and licked into shape by their mother,^ Further milder illustrations of the fact that such nasty substances were then not merely recommended in books but freely employed in actual medical practice, are seen in the frequent use by one of Galen's teachers of the dung of dogs who for two days before had eaten nothing but bones,* in Galen's own wonderfully successful treatment of a tumor on a rustic's knee with goat dung — which is, however, too sharp for the skins of children or city ladies,^ and in his dis- covery by repeated experience that the dung of doves who take little exercise is less potent than that of those who take much,^ Galen also says that he has known of doctors who have cured many persons by giving them burnt human bones in drink without their knowledge.''' Galen's medicinal simples include the bile of bulls, hye- nas, cocks, partridges, and other animals.^ A digestive oil can be manufactured by cooking foxes and hyenas, some alive and some dead, whole in oil.^ Galen discusses with perfect seriousness the relative strength of various animal fats, those of the goose, hen, hyena, goat, pig, and so forth.^^ He decides that lion's fat is by far the most potent, with that of the pard next. Among his simples are also found the slough of a snake, a sheepskin, the lichens of horses, a spider's web,^^ and burnt young swallows, for whose intro- duction into medicine he gives Asclepiades credit.^^ Of 'XII, 248, 284-85, 290. 'XII, 293. * XIV, 255. (To Piso on theriac.) *XII, 291-92. "XII, 298. ' XII, 304. ' XII, 342. "XII, 276-77. "XII, 367-69. "XIII, 949-50, 954-55. "XII, 343. These form the titles of four successive chapters, De simplic, XI, i, caps. 19-22. " XII, 359. 942-43, 977. IV GALEN 169 Archigenes' prescriptions for toothache he repeats that which recommended holding for some time in the mouth a frog boiled in water and vinegar, or a dog's tooth, burnt, pul- verized, and boiled in vinegar.^ Cavities may be filled with toasted earth-worms or spiders' eggs diluted with unguent of nard. Teething infants are benefited, if their gums are moistened with dog's milk or anointed with hare's brains.^ For colic he recommends dried cicadas with three, five, or seven grains of pepper.^ Galen is less confident as to the efficacy for earache of Some the multipedes which roll themselves up into a ball, and ^"^^^ icism. which, cooked in oil, are employed especially by rural doctors.^ He is still more sceptical whether the liver of a mad dog will cure its bite.^ Many say so, and he knows of some who have tried it and survived, but they took other remedies too.^ Galen has heard that some who trusted to it alone died. In one treatise "^ Galen discusses the strange virtues of the basilisk in much the usual way, but in his work on simples ^ he remarks drily that it is obviously impossible to employ it in pharmacy, since, if the tales about it be true, men cannot see it and live or even approach it without dan- ger. He therefore will not include it or elephants or Nile horses (hippopotamuses?) or any other animals of which he has had no personal experience. Galen tries to find some satisfactory explanation of the Doctrine strange properties which he believes exist in so many things, virtue The attractive power of the magnet and of drugs suggests to him that nature in us is divine, as Homer says, and leads like to like and thus shows its divine virtues.^ Galen re- jects Epicurus's explanation of the magnet's attractive power.^° It was that the atoms flowing off from both the magnet and iron fit one another so closely that the two sub- ^ XII, 856. hydrophobia, only tends to make ' XII, 860. their recovery seem the more ' XII, 360. marvelous. *XII, 366-67. 'XIV, 233. 'XII, 335. " XII, 250-51. • A fact which — one cannot help ® XIV, 224-25. remarking — considering the char- "II, 45-48. acter of most ancient remedies for 170 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. stances are drawn together. Galen objects that this does not explain how a whole series of rings can be suspended in a row from a magnet. Galen's teacher Pelops, who claimed to be able to tell the cause of everything, explained why- ashes of river crabs are used for the bite of a mad dog as follows.^ The crab is efficacious against hydrophobia be- cause it is an aquatic animal. River crabs are better for this purpose than salt water crabs because salt dries up moisture. He also thought the ashes of crabs very potent in absorbing the venom. But this type of reasoning is unsat- isfactory to Galen, who finds the best explanation of all such action in the peculiar property, or occult virtue, of the substance as a whole. Upon this subject ^ he proposes to write a separate treatise, and in the fragment De substantia facultatum naturalium ( irepl ovalas rdv ^vclkuiv dvvannav ) he again discusses the matter.^ Among parts of animals Galen regarded the flesh of vipers as especially medicinal, particularly as an antidote to poisons. Of the following cures wrought by vipers' flesh which Galen narrates '^ two were repeated without giving him credit by Aetius of Amida in the sixth, and Bartholomew of England in the thirteenth century, and doubtless by other writers. When Galen was a youth in Asia, some reapers found a dead viper in their jug of wine and so were afraid to drink any of it. Instead they gave it to a man near by who suffered from the terrible skin disease elephantiasis and whom they thought it would be a mercy to put quietly out of his misery. He drank the wine but instead of dying re- covered from his disease. A similarily unexpected cure was effected when a slave wife in Mysia tried to kill her hus- ^XII, 358-59. Concerning the virtue of river crabs we may also quote from a story told in Nias Island, west of Sumatra: "for bad he only eaten river crabs, men would have cast their skin like crabs, and so, renewing their youth perpetually, would never have died." — From J. G. Frazer (1918), I, 67. The belief that the serpent annually changes its skin and renews its youth may account for the virtues ascribed to the flesh of vipers and to theriac in the following paragraphs, ' TTtpi Toip idioTTjTL TJjj oXijs oialas evepyovvTCJV. ' IV, 760-61, ivepyelv rds oialas kot' 15 lav iKacrT-qv 4>vaLV. «XII, 311-15. IV GALEN 171 band by offering him a like drink. A third case was that of a patient whom Galen told of these two previous cures. After resorting- to augTiry to learn if he too should try it and receiving a favorable response, the patient drank wine infected by venom with the result that his elephantiasis changed into leprosy, which Galen cured a little later with the usual drugs. A fourth man, while hunting vipers, was stung by one. Galen bled him, extracted black bile with a drug, and then made him eat the vipers which he had caught and which were prepared in oil like eels. A fifth man, warned by a dream, came from Thrace to Pergamum. An- other dream instructed him both to drink, and to anoint him- self with, a concoction of vipers. This changed his disease into leprosy which in its turn was cured by drugs which the god prescribed. The flesh of vipers was an important ingredient in the Theriac. famous antidote and remedy called theriac, concerning which Galen wrote two special treatises ^ besides discussing it in his works on simples and antidotes. Mithridates, like King Attains in Galen's native land, had tested the effects of vari- ous drugs upon condemned criminals, and had thus dis- covered antidotes against spiders, scorpions, sea-hares, aco- nite, and other poisons. He then combined the results of his research into one grand compound which should be an antidote against any and every poison. But he did not in- clude the flesh of the viper, which was added with some other changes by Andromachus, chief physician to Nero.^ The divine Marcus Aurelius used to take a dose of theriac daily and it had since come into general use.^ Galen gives a long list of ills which it will cure, including the plague and hydrophobia,'^ and adds that it is beneficial in keeping a man in good health.^ He advises its use when traveling or in wintry weather, and tells Piso that it will prolong his life.^ He explains more than once''^ how to prepare the ^ Ad Pisonem de theriaca; De ^ XIV, 271-80. theriaca ad Pamphilianum. ° XIV, 283. ' XIV, 2-3. " XIV, 294. "XIV, 217. 'XII, 317-18; XIV, 45-46, 238. iy2 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Magical com- pounds. viper's flesh, why the head and tail must be cut off, how it is cleaned and boiled until the flesh falls from the backbone, how it is mixed with pounded bread into pills, how the flesh of the viper is best in early summer. Galen also accepts the legend,^ quoting six lines of verse from Nicander to that effect, that the viper conceives in the mouth and then bites off the male's head, and that the young viper avenges its father's death by gnawing its way out of its mother's vitals. The Mar si at Rome denied the existence of the dips as or snake whose bite causes one to die of thirst, but Galen is not quite sure whether to agree with them. Already we have had occasion to refer to Galen's two works on compound medicines which occupy the better part of two bulky volumes in Kiihn's edition and contain a vast number of prescriptions. It is not uncommon for one of these to contain as many as twenty-five ingredients. It seems unlikely that such elaborate concoctions would have been discovered by chance, as the Empirics held, but the modem reader is ready to agree that it was chance, if any- one was ever cured of anything by one of them. Yet Galen, as we have seen, believes that reasons can be given for the ingredients and would not for a moment admit that they are no better than the messes of witches' cauldrons. He argues that, if all diseases could be cured by simples, no one would use compounds, but that they are essential for some diseases, especially such as require the simultaneous application of contrary virtues.- Also where a simple is too strong or weak, it can be toned up or down to just the right strength in a compound. Plasters and poultices seem al- ways to be compounds. Of panaceas Galen is somewhat more chary, except in the case of theriac ; he opines that a medicine which is good for a number of ills cannot be very good for any one of them.' Procedure as well as substances suggestive of magic is found to some extent in Galen's works. He instructs, for *XIV, 238-39. ' XIII, 371, 374. "XIII, 134. IV GALEN 173 example, to pluck an herb with the left hand before sunrise.^ He also recommends the suspension of a peony to cure epi- lepsy.- He saw a boy who wore this root remain free from that disease for eight months, when the root happened to drop off and the boy soon fell in a fit. When another peony root was hung- about his neck, he remained in good health until Galen for the sake of experiment removed it a second time, whereupon another epileptic fit ensued as before. In this case Galen suggests that perhaps some particles from the root were drawn in by the patient's breathing or altered the surrounding air. In another passage he holds that there is no medical reason to account for the virtues of amulets, but that those who have tested them by experience say that they act by some marvelous antipathy unknown to man.^ A ligature recommended by Galen is to bind about the neck of the patient a viper which has been suffocated by tying sev- eral strings, preferably of marine purple, about its neck.* Galen marvels that sterciis lupimim, even when simply sus- pended from the neck, "sometimes evidently is beneficial." ^ It should not have touched the ground but should have been taken from trees or bushes. It also works better, as Galen has found in his own practice, if suspended by the wool of a sheep who has been torn by a wolf. While Galen thus employs ligatures and suspensions and Incanta- sanctions magic logic, he draws the line at use of images, characters characters, and incantations. In the passage just cited he goes on to say that he has found other suspended sub- stances efficacious, but not the barbarous names such as wizards use. Some say that the gem jasper comforts the stomach if bound about the abdomen,^ and some wear it in a ring engraved with a dragon and rays,"^ as King Nechepso directs in his fourteenth book. Galen has employed it sus- pended about the neck without any engraving upon it and ^XIII, 242, 'XII, 207. XI, 859. ' A representation of the ° XII, 573 ; see also XIII, 256. Agathodaemon ; see C. W. King, XI, 860. The Gnostics and their Remains, *XII, 295-96. London, 1887, p. 220. 174 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Belief _ in magic dies hard. On easily i)rocurable remedies. found it equally beneficial. In illustrating the virtue of human saliva, especially that of a fasting man, Galen tells of a man who promised him to kill a scorpion by means of an incantation which he repeated thrice. But at each repe- tition he spat on the scorpion and Galen afterwards killed one by the same procedure without any incantation, and more quickly with the spittle of a fasting than of a full man.^ The preceding paragraph gives a good illustration of the slow progress of human thought away from magic and towards science. Men are discovering that marvels can be worked as well without characters and incantations. Simi- lar passages may be found in Arabic and Latin medieval writers. But while Galen questions images and incantations, he still clings to the notions of marvelous virtue in a fast- ing man's spittle or in a gem suspended about the neck. And these and other passages in which he clung to old super- stitions were unfortunately equally influential upon suc- ceeding writers, who sometimes, we fear, took them as an excuse for further indulgence in magic. Indeed, we shall find Alexander of Tralles in the sixth century arguing that Galen finally became a believer in the efficacy of incanta- tions. Thus the old notions and practices die hard. In the treatise on easily procurable remedies, where pop- ular and rustic remedies enter rather more largely than in Galen's other writings, superstitious recipes are also met with more frequently, and, if that be possible, the doses become even more calculated to make one's gorge rise, it being felt that the unfastidious tastes and crude constitu- tions of peasants and the poorer classes can stand more than daintier city patients. Another reason for separate consid- eration of the contents of this treatise is the possibility, al- ready mentioned, that it is interpolated and misarranged, and the fact that it is in part of much later date than Galen. *XII, 288-89. At II, 163, Galen again accepts the notion that human saliva is fatal to scorpions. IV GALEN 175 We must limit ourselves to a hasty survey of a few sped- Specimens mens of its prescriptions. Following Archigenes, ligatures pgrstitfous and crowns are employed for headaches.^ In contrast to contents. Galen's previous scepticism concerning depilatories for eye- brows we now find a number mentioned, including the blood of a bed-bug.^ To cure lumbago,^ if the pain is in the right foot, reduce to powder with your right hand the wings of a swallow. Then make an incision in the swallow's leg and draw off all its blood. Skin it and roast it and eat it en- tire. Then anoint yourself all over with the oil for three days and you will marvel at the result. "This has been often proved by experience." To prevent hair from falling out take many bees and burn them and mix with oil and use as an ointment.* For a sty in the eye catch flies, cut off their heads, and rub the sty with the rest of their bodies.'^ A cooked black chameleon performs the double duty of cur- ing toothache and killing mice.^ To extract a tooth in the upper jaw surround it with the worms found in the tops of cabbages; for a lower tooth use the worms on the lower parts of the leaves.'^ Pain in the intestines will vanish, if the patient drinks water in which his feet have been washed.^ A net transferred from a woman's hair to the patient's head acts as a laxative, especially if the net is first heated.^ Vari- ous superstitious devices are suggested to insure the birth of a child of the sex desired.^" Bituminous trefoil, ^^ boiled and applied hot, cures snake or spider bite, but let no one use it who is not so afflicted or it will make him feel as if he was.^^ For cataract is recommended a mixture of equal parts of mouse's blood, cock's gall, and woman's milk, * XIV, 321. ^ "The Psoranthea bituniinosa oi ' XIV, 349. Linnaeus. It is found on declivi- * XIV, 386-87. ties near the sea-coast in the south * XIV, 343. of Europe," says a note in Bostock ' XIV, 413. and Riley's The Natural History -XIV, 427. of Pliny (Bohn Library), IV, 'XIV, 430. 330. Pliny, too (XXI, 88), states *XIV, 471. that trefoil is poisonous itself and "XIV, 472. to be used only as a counter- ^"XIV, 476. And others, "Ut ne poison. cui penis arrigi possit," and "Ad " XIV, 491 ; a good example of arrectionem pudendi." the power of suggestion. 176 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. External signs of the tem- peraments of internal organs. Marvelous statements repeated by Mai- monides. dried. ^ For pain on one side of the head or face smear with fifteen earthworms and fifteen grains of pepper powdered in vinegar.- To stop a cough wear the tongue of an eagle as an amulet.^ Wearing a root of rhododendron makes one fearless of dogs and would cure a mad dog itself, if it could be tied on the animal."^ A "confection" covering three pages is said to prolong life, to have been used by the emperors, and to have enabled Pythagoras, its inventor, who began to make use of it at the age of fifty, to live to be one hundred and seventeen without disease. "And he was a philosopher and unable to lie about it." ^ It remains to note what there is in Galen's works in the way of divination and astrology. We. are not entirely sur- prised that contemporary doctors confused his medical prognostic with divination, when we read what he has to say concerning the outward signs of hot or cold internal organs. In the treatise, entitled Th'e Healing Art (jexyrj laTpiKT)),^ which Mewaldt says was the most studied of Galen's works and spread in a vast number of medieval Latin manuscript translations,'^ he devotes a number of chapters to such subjects as signs of a hot and dry heart, signs of a hot liver, and signs of a cold lung. Among the signs of a cold brain are excessive excrements from the head, stiff straight red hair, a late birth, mal-nutrition, sus- ceptibility to injury from cold causes and to catarrh, and somnolence.^ In his commentary on the Aphoristns of Hippocrates Galen adds other signs by which it may be foretold whether the child will be a boy or girl to those signs already men- tioned by Hippocrates.^ Some of these seem superstitious enough to us. And it was a case of the evil that men do living after them, for Moses Maimonides, the noted Jewish physician of Cordova in the twelfth century, in his collection *XIV, 498. *XIV, 502. •XIV. 505. *XIV, S17. •XIV, 567ff. •I, 305-412. 'GaUn in PW. 'I, 325-6. •XVII B, 212 and 834. IV GALEN 177 of Aphorisms, drawn chiefly from the works of Galen, re- peats the following method of prognostication : Puerum cum primo spermatizat perscrutare, quern si invenis habere testiculum dextriim maiorem sinistro, you will know that his first child will be a male, otherwise female. The same may be determined in the case of a girl by a comparison of the size of her breasts. Maimonides also repeats, from Galen's work to Caesar on theriac,^ the story of the ugly man who secured a beautiful son by having a beautiful boy painted on the wall and making his wife keep her eyes fixed upon it. Maimonides also repeats from Galen - the story of the bear's licking its unformed cubs into shape. ^ In another treatise on Diagnosis from Dreams Galen Dreams, makes a closer approach to the arts of divination.* He states that dreams are affected by our daily life and thought, and describes a few corresponding to bodily states or caused by them. He thinks that if you dream you see fire, you are troubled by yellow bile, and if you dream of vapor or dark- ness, by black bile. In diagnosing dreams one should note when they occurred and what had been eaten. But Galen also believes that to some extent the future can be predicted from dreams, as has been testified, he says, by experience.^ We have already mentioned the effect of his father's dream upon Galen's career. In the Hippocratic commentaries ^ he says that some scorn dreams and omens and signs, but that he has often learned from dreams how to prognosticate or cure diseases. Once a dream instructed him to let blood between the index and great fingers of the right hand until the flow of blood stopped of its own accord. "It is neces- sary," he concludes, "to observe dreams accurately both as to what is seen and what is done in sleep in order that you ^ Partic. 6, Kuhn, XIV, 253. edition of the Aphorisms dated 'Kijhn, XIV, 255. 1489 and numbered IA.28878 in 'These passages all come from the British Museum. The same the 24th Particula of Maimonides' section contains still other marvels Aphorisms, which is devoted es- from the works of Galen. pecially to marvels : — "Incipit par- * Kiihn, VI, 832-5. ticula xxiiii continens aphorismos *VI, 833. dependentes a miraculis repertis * XVI, 222-23. in libris medicorum," from an 178 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Lack of astrology in most of Galen's medicine. The Prog- nostication of Disease by Astrol- ogy. may prognosticate and heal satisfactorily." Perhaps he had a dim idea along Freudian lines. In the ordinary run of Galen's pharmacy and therapeutics there is very little mention or observance of astrological conditions, although Hippocrates is cited as having said that a study of geometry and astronomy — which may v^ell mean astrology — is essential in medicine.^ In the De methodo medendi he often urges the importance of the time of year, the region, and the state of the sky.^ But this expression seems to refer to the weather rather than to the position of the constellations. The dog-star is also occasionally men- tioned,^ and one passage ^ tells how "Aeschrion the Empiric, ... an old man most experienced in drugs and our fellow citizen and teacher," burned live river crabs on a plate of red bronze after the rise of the dog-star when the sun entered Leo and on the eighteenth day of the moon. We are also informed that many Romans are in the habit of taking theriac on the first or fourth day of the moon.^ But Galen ridicules Pamphilus for his thirty-six sacred herbs of the horoscope — or decans, taken from an Egyptian Hermes book.^ On the other hand, one of his objections to the atom- ists is that "they despise augury, dreams, portents, and all astrology," as well as that they deny a divine artificer of the world and an innate moral law to the soul.'^ Thus athe- ism and disbelief in astrology are put on much the same plane. Whereas there is so little to suggest a belief in astrology in most of Galen's works, we find among them two devoted especially to astrological medicine, namely, a treatise on critical days in which the influence of the moon upon dis- ease is assumed, and the Prognostication of Disease by Astrology. In the latter he states that the Stoics favored astrology, that Diodes Carystius represented the ancients *I, S3. 'X, 688; XIII, 544; XIV, 285. *Coeli status, or 1^ KaT&araai^. ■* XII, 356. X, 593-96, 625, 634, 645, 647-48, ■'XIV, 298. 658, 662, 68s, 737. 759-60, 778, 829, " XI, 798. etc. 'II, 26-28. IV GALEN 179 as employing the course of the moon In prognostications, and that, if Hippocrates said that physicians should know physiognomy, they ought much more to learn astrology, of which physiognomy is but a part.^ There follows a state- ment of the influence of the moon in each sign of the zodiac and in its relations to the other planets.^ On this basis is foretold what diseases a man will have, what medical treat- ment to apply, whether the patient will die or not, and if so in how many days. This treatise is the same as that as- cribed in many medieval manuscripts to Hippocrates and translated into Latin by both William of Moerbeke and Peter of Abano. The treatise on critical days discusses them not by rea- Critical days. son or dogma, lest sophists befog the plain facts, but solely, we are told, upon the basis of clear experience.^ Having premised that "we receive the force of all the stars above," "^ the author presents indications of the especially great influ- ence of sun and moon. The latter he regards not as superior to the other planets in power, but as especially governing the earth because of its nearness.^ He then discusses the moon's phases, holding that it causes great changes in the air, rules conceptions and birth, and "all beginnings of ac- tions," ^ Its relations to the other planets and to the signs of the zodiac are also considered and much astrological'tech- nical detail is introduced.'^ But the Pythagorean theory that the numbers of the critical days are themselves the cause of their significance in medicine is ridiculed, as is the doctrine that odd numbers are masculine and even numbers feminine.^ Later the author also ridicules those who talk of seven Pleiades and seven stars in either Bear and the seven gates of Thebes or seven mouths of the Nile.^ Thus he will not accept the doctrine of perfect or magic numbers along with his astrological theory. Much of this rather »XIX, 529-30. 'IX, 908-10. ^XIX, 534-73. ^IX, 913. ' IX, 794. * IX, 922. ;iX, 901-2. "IX, 935. " IX, 904. i8o MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. On the history of philos- ophy. Divination and demons. long treatise is devoted to a discussion of the duration of a moon, and it is shown that one of the moon's quarters is not exactly seven days in length and that the fractions affect the incidence of the critical days. A treatise on the history of philosophy, which is marked "spurious" in Kiihn's edition, I have also discovered among the essays of Plutarch where, too, it is classed as spurious.-^ In some ways it is suggestive of the middle ages. After an account of the history of Greek philosophy somewhat in the style of the brief reviews of the same to be found in the church fathers, it adds a sketch of the universe and natural phenomena not dissimilar to some medieval treatises of like scope. There are chapters on the universe, God, the sky, the stars, the sun, the moon, the viagmis annus, the earth, the sea, the Nile, the senses, vision and mirrors, hear- ing, smell and taste, the voice, the soul, breathing, the proc- esses of generation, and so on. In discussing divination ^ the treatise states that Plato and the Stoics attributed it to God and to divinity of the spirit in ecstasy, or to interpretation of dreams or astrol- ogy or augury. Xenophanes and Epicurus denied it en- tirely. Pythagoras admitted only divination by hariispices or by sacrifice. Aristotle and Dicaearchus admit only div- ination by enthusiasm and by dreams. For although they deny that the human soul is immortal, they think that there is something divine about it. Herophilus said that dreams sent by God must come true. Other dreams are natural, when the mind forms images of things useful to it or about to happen to it. Still others are fortuitous or mere reflec- tions of our desires. The treatise also takes up the subject of heroes and demons.^ Epicurus denied the existence of *Kuhn, XIX, 22-345. Plutarch, Opera, ed. Didot, De placitis philosophorum, pp. 1065-1114; in Plutarch's Miscellanies and Es- says, English translation, 1889, III, 104-92. The wording of the two versions differs somewhat and in Galen's works it is divided simply into 2>7 chapters, whereas in Plutarch's works it is divided into five books and many more chapters. ' XIX, 320-21 ; De plac. philos., V, 1-2. *XIX, 253; De plac. philos., 1,8. bodies. IV GALEN i8i either, but Thales, Plato, Pythagoras, and the Stoics agree that demons are natural substances, while heroes are souls separate from bodies, and are good or bad according to the lives of the men who lived in those bodies. The treatise also gives the opinions of various Greek Celestial philosophers on the question whether the universe or its component spheres are either animals or animated. Fate is defined on the authority of Heracleitus as "the heavenly body, the seed of the genesis of all things." ^ The question is asked why babies born after seven months live, while those born after eight months die.^ On the other hand, a very brief discussion of how the stars prognosticate does not go into particulars beyond their indication of seasons and weather, and even this Anaximenes ascribed to the effect of the sun alone. ^ Philolaus the Pythagorean is quoted con- cerning some lunar water about the stars^ which reminds one of the waters above the firmament in the first chapter of Genesis. *Kuhn, XIX, 261-62; De placitis 'XIX, 274; De plac. philos., II, philosophorum, I, 28 ; " ij 6i et^uap- 19. nkvTj e cos aoinarov bta- W. W. Goodwin, 5 vols., 1870- irtipav \ayL0a.vovTt%, and there seems 1878, IV, 10, renders a passage in to be no reason for taking the the seventh chapter of De defectU' word "sophist" in any other than oraculorunt, in which complaint its usual meaning. The passage is made of the "base and villain- therefore cannot be interpreted as ous questions" which are now put an attack upon even vulgar astrol- to the oracle of Apollo, as fol- ogers. lows : "some coming to him as a ' De defectu oraculorunt, 13. mere paltry astrologer to try his 2IH MAGIC AXD EXPERIMEXTAL SCIENCE chap. motions, their sorceries and magics, their runnings to and fro and beatings of drums, their impure rites and their purifications, their filthiness and chastity-, their barbarian and illegal chastisements and abuse." ^ Plutarch seems to be in part animated by the common prejudice against all other religions than cHie's own. and speaks twice with dis- taste of Jewish Sabbaths. He also, however, as the passage just quoted shows, is opposed to the more extreme and de- basing forms of magic, and declares that the superstitious man becomes a mere peg or post upon which all the old- wives hang any amulets and ligatures upon which they may chance.- He further condemns such historic instances of superstition as Xicias's suspension of military operations during a lunar eclipse on the Sicilian expedition.^ There was nothing terrible, says Plutarch, with his usual felicity of an- tithesis, in the periodic reoirrence of the earth's shadow upon the moon; but it was a terrible calamitv* that the shadow of superstition should thus darken the mind of a general at the very moment when a great crisis required the fullest use of his reason. -:"tarch In the essay upon the demon of Socrates one of the ^;l"^"'*^ speakers, attacking faith in dreams and apparitions, com- mends Socrates as one who did not reject the worship of the gods but who did purify philosophy, which he had re- ceived from P}-thagoras and Empedocles full of phantasms and myths and the dread of demons, and reeling like a Bac- chanal, and reduced it to facts and reason and truth.* An- other of the company, however, objects that the demon of Socrates outdid the divination of P\thagoras.^ These con- flicting opinions may be applied in some measiu-e to Plutarch himself. His censtu"e of dread of demons and excessive superstition is not to be taken as a sign of scepticism on his part in oracles, dreams, or the demons themselves. To these matters we next tturu 'Cap. 12. *Cap. 9. •Cap. 7. • Cap. a * Cap. 10. pe-fu: VI PLUTARCH'S ESSAYS 20= Plutarch's faith and interest in oracles in general and The , . . , , oracles of in the Delphian oracle ot Apollo in particular are attested Delphi and by three of his essays, the De defectu oraculorum, De Py- '^X^^^ thme oracuUs and De Ei apud Delphos. At the same time these essays attest the decline of the oracles from their earlier popularity" and greatness. The oracular cave of Trophonius, of which we shall hear again in the Life of Apollonius of Tyana, also comes into Plutarch's works, and the prophetic and apocal}'ptic vision is described of a youth who spent two nights and a day there in an endeavor to learn the nature of the demon of Socrates.^ Plutarch further had faith in divination in general, Divination whether by dreams, sneezes or other omens: but he attempted to give a dignified philosophical and theological explana- tion of it. Few men receive direct divine revelation, in his opinion, but to many signs are given on which divination may be based.- He held that the human soul had a natural faculty of di%-ination which might be exercised at favorable times and when the bodily state was not unfavorable.^ A speaker in one of his dialogues justifies divination even from sneezes and like trivial occurrences upon the ground that as the faint beat of the pulse has meaning for the ph}*sician and a small cloud in the sk}- is for a skilful pilot a sign of im- pending storm, so the least thing may be a clue to the truly- prophetic soul.^ The extent of Plutarch's faith in dreams may be inferred from his discussion of the problem. Why are dreams in autumn the least reliable ? ^ First there is Aristotle's suggestion that eating autumn fruit so disturbs the digestion that the soul is left little opportunity to ex- ercise its prophetic faculty- undistracted. If we accept the doctrine of Democritus that dreams are caused by images from other bodies and even minds or souls, which enter the body of the sleeper through the open pores and affect the mind, revealing to it the present passions and future de- ^ De genio Socratis, 21-22. * De genio Socratis, 12, 'Ibid.. 24. * De dcfcctu orjcuhrum, 40. * Sympos. \TII. 10. 206 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Demons as mediators between gods and fnen. Demons in the moon : migration of the soul. signs of others, — if we accept this theory, it may be that the falling leaves in autumn disturb the air and ruffle these extremely thin and film-like emanations. A third explana- tion offered is that in the declining months of the year all our faculties, including that of natural divination, are in a state of decline. In the case of oracles like that at Delphi it is suggested that the Pythia's natural faculty of divination is stimulated by "the prophetical exhalations from the earth" which induce a bodily state favorable to divination.^ The god or demon, however, is the underlying and directing cause of the oracle.- To the demons and their relations to the gods and to men we therefore next come. Plutarch's view is that they are essential mediators between the gods and men. Just as one who should remove the air from between the earth and moon would destroy the continuity of the universe, so those who deny that there is a race of demons break ofif all inter- course between gods and men.^ On the other hand, the theory of demons solves many doubts and difficulties.-'* When and where this doctrine originated is uncertain, whether among the magi about Zoroaster, or in Thrace with Orpheus, or in Egypt or Phrygia. Plutarch likens the gods to an equilateral, the demons to an isosceles, and human be- ings to a scalene triangle; and again compares the gods to sun and stars, the demons to the moon, and men to comets and meteors.^ In the youth's vision in the cave of Tro- phonius the moon appeared to belong to earthly demons, while those stars which have a regular motion were the demons of sages, and the wandering and falling stars the demons of men who have yielded to irrational passions.® These suggestions that the moon and the air between earth and moon are the abode of the demons and this remi- niscence of the Platonic doctrine of the soul and its migra- tions receive further confirmation in a discussion whether ^ De defectu oraculorum, 44. ^bid., 48. Ubid., 13. *Ibid., ID. ^bid., 13. *£? i- > ~t, , dejectu oraculorum. * Symposiacs, II, 9 ; IV, 2 ; III, * Cap. 7. 220 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap, vi at the center of the earth might nevertheless both be right side up, or that one man whose middle was at the center might be half right side up and half upside down. He admits, however, that the philosophers think so. Thus we see that Christian fathers like Lactantius were not the first to ridicule the notion of the Antipodes; apparently as well educated and omnivorous a pagan reader as Plutarch could do the same. CHAPTER VII APULEIUS OF MADAURA I. Life and Works Magic and the man — Stylistic reasons for regarding the Metamor- phoses as his first work — Biographical reasons — No mention of the Metamorphoses in the Apology. II. Magic in the Metamorphoses Powers claimed for magic — Its actual performances — Its limitations — The crimes of witches — Male magicians — Magic as an art and dis- cipline— Materials employed — Incantations and rites — Quacks and charlatans — Various superstitions — Bits of science and religion — Magic in other Greek romances. III. Magic in the Apology Form of the Apologia — Philosophy and magic — Magic defined — Good and bad magic — Magic and religion — Magic and science — Medical and scientific knowledge of Apuleius — He repeats familiar errors — Apparent ignorance of magic and occult virtue — Despite an assumption of knowledge — Attitude toward astronomy — His theory of demons — Apuleius in the middle ages. I. His Life and Works One of the fullest and most vivid pictures of magic in the Magic and ancient Mediterranean world which has reached us is pro- ^^ "l^^ ^^ vided by the writings of Apuleius. He lived in the second in his century of our era and was not merely a rhetorician of great note in his day and the writer of a romance which has ever since fascinated men, but also a Platonic philosopher, an initiate into many religious cults and mysteries, and a stu- dent of natural science and medicine. To him has been ascribed the Latin version of Asclepius, a supposititious dialogue of Hermes Trismegistus. No author perhaps ever more readily and complacently talked of himself than 221 222 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Stylistic reasons for re- garding the Meta- morphoses as his first work. Apuleius, yet it is no easy task to make out the precise facts of his life, partly because in his romance, The Metamor- phoses, or The Golden Ass, he has hopelessly confused himself with the hero Lucius and introduced an autobio- graphical element of uncertain extent into what is in the main a work of fiction; partly because his Apology, or defense when tried on the charge of magic at Oea in Africa, is more in the nature of special pleading intended to refute and confound his accusers than of a frank confession or accurate history of his career. However, he appears to have been born at Madaura in North Africa, to have studied first at Carthage and then at Athens, to have visited Rome and wandered rather widely about the Mediterranean world, but to have spent more time altogether at Carthage than at any other one place. Besides the Metamorphoses and Apologia, with which we shall be chiefly concerned, four other works are extant which are regarded as genuine, The God of Socrates, The Dogma of Plato, Florida, and On the Universe. The order in which these works were written is uncertain, but it seems almost sure that the Metamorphoses was the first. In it Apuleius not only more or less identifies himself with the hero Lucius, who is represented as quite a young man, he also apologizes for his Latin and speaks of the difficulty with which he had acquired that language at Rome. But in the Florida'^ we find him repeating a hymn and a dialogue in both Latin and Greek, or, after delivering half an address in Greek, finishing it in Latin, or boasting that he writes poems, satires, riddles, histories, scientific treatises, orations, and philosophical dialogues with equal facility in either lan- guage.^ Instead now of craving pardon if he offends by his rude, exotic, and forensic speech, he feels that his repu- tation for literary refinement and elegance has become such that his audience will not pardon him a solitary solecism or a single syllable pronounced with a barbarous accent.^ It Xap. i8 * "Tarn graece quam latine, gemi- no veto, pari studio, simili studio." '^Florida, cap. 9. cal rea- VII APULEIUS OF MAD AURA 223 therefore looks as if the Metamorphoses was his first pub- Hshed effort in Latin and as if his pecuHar style had proved so popular that he did not find it necessary to apologize for it again. In the Apology he seems supremely confident of his rhetorical powers in the Latin language, and even the accusers describe him as a philosopher of great eloquence both in Greek and Latin.^ Three years before in the same town his first public discourse had been greeted with shouts of "Insigniter," and many in the audience at the time of his trial can still repeat a passage from it on the greatness of Aesculapius.^ In the Apology, too, he displays a more extensive learning than in the Metamorphoses and has writ- ten already poems and scientific treatises as well as orations. Indeed, practically all the doctrines set forth in his other philosophical works may be found in brief in the Apology. Moreover, while in the Metamorphoses Apuleius ends Biographi- the narrative with what seems to be his own comparatively recent initiation into the mysteries of Isis in Greece and of Osiris at Rome, in the Apology ^ he speaks of having" been initiated in the past into all sorts of sacred rites, although he does not mention Rome or Isis and Osiris specifi- cally. It is implied, however, that he has been at Rome in more than one passage of the Apology. Pontianus, his future step-son, with whom Apuleius had become acquainted at Athens "not so many years ago," was "an adult at Rome" before Apuleius came to Oea. After they had met again at Oea and had both married there, Apuleius gave Pontianus a letter of introduction to the proconsul Lollianus Avitus at Carthage, of whom he says, "I have known intimately many cultured men of Roman name in the course of my life, but have never admired anyone as much as him." Perhaps Apuleius may have met Lollianus at Carthage, but in the Florida,'^ in a panegyric on Scipio Orfitus, proconsul of Africa in 163-164 A. D., he alludes to the time "when I moved among your friends in Rome." All this fits in nicely ^Apologia, cap. 4. °Caps. 55-56. 'Caps. 73 and SS- * Cap. 17. 224 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. with the statements in the closing chapters of the Metamor- phoses concerning his rising fame as an orator in the courts of law and "the laborious doctrine of my studies" at Rome. We may therefore reconstruct the course of events as fol- lows. After meeting Pontianus at Athens and concluding his studies in Greece, Apuleius came to Rome, where he remained for some time, perfecting his Latin style, engaging in forensic oratory, and publishing the Metamorphoses. Pontianus, who was younger than Apuleius, either accom- panied or followed his friend to Rome, in which city he was still residing after Apuleius had returned to Africa. But Pontianus, too, had left Rome and come back to his African city of Oea to settle the question of his mother's proposed second marriage, before Apuleius, who had prob- ably revisited Carthage in the meantime and was now travel- ing east again with the intention of visiting Alexandria, arrived at Oea and was induced to wed the widow, who was considerably older than he. On the delicate question of this lady's exact age depends our dating of the birth of Apuleius and the chronology of his entire career. At the trial of Apuleius for magic Aemilianus, the accuser, declared that she was sixty when she married Apuleius, and he had previ- ously proposed to marry her to his brother, Clarus, whom Apuleius calls "a decrepit old man." ^ On the other hand, Apuleius asserts that the records, which he produces in court, of her being accepted in infancy by her father as his child show that she is "not much over forty," ^ — a tactful ambiguity which, inasmuch as we no longer have the records, it would probably be idle to attempt to fathom. No men- The chief, if not the only, objection to dating the Metamor- Metamorphoses before the Apology is that nothing is said m th" ^^ ^^ ^" ^^^ latter.^ But obviously Apuleius, when on trial Apology. for magic, would not mention the Metamorphoses unless his * Apologia, cap. 70. that he places the Apology earlier. ' Cap. 8g. But for the reasons already given •To Professor Butler (Apulei I agree with the article on Apu- Apologia, ed. H. E. Butler and A. leius in Pauly and Wissowa and S. Owen, Oxford, 1914) this diffi- its citations that the Metamor- culty seems so insurmountable phases is Apuleius's first work. VII APULEIUS OF MAD AURA 225 accusers forced him to do so. They may not have yet heard of it or it may at first have been published anonymously, although the probability is that Apuleius v^ould not have spent three years at Oea without bringing it to his admirers' attention. Or they may know of it, but the judge may not have admitted it as evidence on the ground that they must prove that Apuleius has practiced magic. The Metamor- phoses does not recount any personal participation of Apuleius himself in magic arts, unless one identifies him throughout with the hero Lucius; it purports to be a Latin rendition of Milesian tales ^ and does not seem to have been taken very seriously until the church fathers began to cite it. Or the accusers may have dwelt upon it and Apuleius simply have failed to take notice of their charge. All these suppositions may not seem very plausible, but on the other hand we may ask, how would Apuleius dare to write a work like the Metamorphoses after he had been accused and tried of magic? One would expect him then to drop the subject rather than to display an increasing interest in it. But let us turn to his treatment of that theme in both those works, and first consider the Metamorphoses. IL Magic in the Metamorphoses Vast power over nature and spirits is attributed to magic Powers ned magic and its practitioners in the opening chapters of the Metamor- \q^^^ phases. "By magic's mutterings swift streams are reversed, the sea is calmed, the sun stopped, foam drawn from the moon, the stars torn from the sky, and day turned into night." ^ While such assertions are received with some scepticism by one listener, they are largely borne out by the subsequent experiences of the characters in the story and by the feats which witches are made to perform. These are sometimes humorously and extravagantly presented, but as crime and ferocious cruelty are treated in the same spirit, * The work opens with the state- called Milesian manner," and that ment that the author "will stitch "we begin with a Grecian story." together varied stories in the so- 'I, 3. perform- ances. 226 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. this light vein cannot be regarded as an admission of magic's unreaHty. On the contrar}', the magic of Thessaly is cele- brated with one accord the world over.^ Meroe the witch can "displace the sky, elevate the earth, freeze fountains, melt mountains, raise ghosts, bring down the gods, ex- tinguish the stars, and illuminate the bottomless pit." ^ Submerging the light of starry heaven to the lowest depths of hell is a power also attributed to the witch Pamphile.^ "By her marvelous secrets she makes ghosts and elements obey and serve her, disturbs the stars and coerces the divinities." * Its actual In none of the episodes recorded in The Golden Ass, however, do the witches find it necessary or advisable to go to quite so great lengths as these, although Pamphile once threatens the sun with eternal darkness because he is so slow in yielding to night when she may ply her sorcery and amours.'^ The witches content themselves with such accom- plishments as carrying on love affairs with inhabitants of distant India, Ethopia, and even the Antipodes, — "trifles of the art these and mere bagatelles" ; ^ with transforming their enemies into animal forms or imprisoning them helpless in their homes, or transporting them house and all to a spot a hundred miles off;"^ and, on the other hand, with break- ing down bolted doors to murder their victims,^ or assum- ing themselves the shape of weasels, birds, dogs, mice, and even insects in order to work their mischief unobserved ; ^ they then cast their victims into a deep sleep and cut their throats or hang them or mutilate them.^^ They often know what is being said about them when apparently absent, and they sometimes indulge in divination of the future. ^^ But to whatever fields of activity they may extend or confine them- MI, I. 'Ill, 16. '1,8. « I, 8. 'II. 5- 'I Q-io MIX, 15. The wording of the « j' ^j^' translated passages throughout ^ ' ■^' this chapter is mainly my own, but ^^^t' ^^ ^" , jv I have made some use of existing H. 20 and 30; lA, 29. English translations. "I. n; H, 11. VII APULEIUS OF MAD AURA 227 selves, their violent power is irresistible, and we are given to understand that it is useless to try to fight against it or to escape it. Its secret and occult character is also empha- sized, and the adjective caeca or noun latehrae are more than once employed to describe it.^ Yet there are also suggested certain limitations to the Its limita- power of magic. The witches seem to break down the bolted doors, but these resume their former place when the hags have departed, and are to all appearances as intact as before. The man, too, whose throat they have cut, whose blood they have drained off, and whose heart they have removed, awakes apparently alive the next morning and resumes his journey. All the events of the preceding night seem to have been merely an unpleasant dream. The witches had stuffed a sponge into the wound of his throat - with the adjuration, "Oh you sponge, born in the sea, beware of crossing running water." In the morning his traveling com- panion can see no sign of wound or sponge on his friend's throat. But when he stoops to drink from a brook, out falls the sponge and he drops dead. The inference, although Apuleius draws none, is obvious ; witches can make a corpse seem alive for a while but not for long, and magic ceases to work when you cross running water. We also get the impression that there is something deceptive and illusive about the magic of the witches, and that only the lusts and crimes are real which their magic enables them or their employers to commit and gratify. They may seem to draw down the sun, but it is found shining next day as usual. When Lucius is transformed into an ass, he retains his human appetite and tenderness of skin,^ — a deplorable state of mind and body which must be attributed to the imper- ^11, 20, 22; III, 18. of the tribe, drag him a hundred 'Very similar practices are re- yards or so from the camp, cut up counted by A. W. Howitt, Native his abdomen obliquely, take out Tribes of South-East Australia, the kidney and caul-fat, and then PP- 355-96; "the medicine-men of ?tuff a handful of grass and sand hostile tribes sneak into the camp into the wound." in the night, and with a net of a peculiar construction garotte one ' VI, 26. 228 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. The crimes of witches. Male magicians. Magic as an art and discipline. fections of the magic art as well as to the humorous cruelty of the author. In The Golden Ass the practitioners of magic are usually witches and old and repulsive. We have to deal with won- ders worked by old-wives and not by Magi of Persia or Babylon. As we have seen and shall see yet further, their deeds are regarded as illicit and criminal. They are "most wicked women" (nequissimae mulieres),^ intent upon lust and crime. They practice devotiones, injurious impreca- tions and ceremonies.^ Male practitioners of magic are represented in a less unfavorable light. An Egyptian, who in return for a large sum of money engages to invoke the spirit of a dead man and restore the corpse momentarily to life, is called a prophet and a priest, though he seems a manifest necromancer and is himself adjured to lend his aid and to "have pity by the stars of heaven, by the infernal deities, by the elements of nature, and by the silence of night," ^ — expressions which are certainly suggestive of the magic powers elsewhere ascribed to witches. The hero of the story, Lucius, is ani- mated in his dabblings in the magic art by idle curiosity combined with thirst for learning, but not by any criminal motive.^ Yet after he has been transformed into an ass by magic, he fears to resume his human form suddenly in public, lest he be put to death on suspicion of practicing the magic art.^ Magic is depicted not merely as irresistible or occult or criminal or fallacious; it is also regularly called an art and a discipline. Even the practices of the witches are so dig- nified, Pamphile has nothing less than a laboratory on the roof of her house, — a wooden shelter, concealed from view but open to the winds of heaven and to the four points of the compass, — where she may ply her secret arts and where she spreads out her "customary apparatus." ^ This consists *II, 22. "I, 10 ; VII, 14; IX, 23,29. "11, 28. MI, 6; III, 19. •Ill, 29. •III. 17. VII APULEIUS OF MAD AURA 229 of all sorts of aromatic herbs, of metal plates inscribed with cryptic characters, a chest filled with little boxes containing- various ointments,^ and portions of human corpses obtained from sepulchers, shipwrecks (or birds of prey, according as the reading is navium or avium), public executions, and the victims of wild beasts.^ It will be recalled that Galen repre- sented medical students as most likely to secure human skeletons or bodies to dissect from somewhat similar sources; and possibly they might incur suspicion of magic thereby. All this makes it clear that to work magic one must have Materials materials. The witches seem especially avid for parts of ^"^PWed. the human body. Pamphile sends her maid, Fotis, to the barber's shop to try to steal some cuttings of the hair of a youth of whom she is enamoured ; ^ and another story is told of witches who by mistake cut off and replaced with wax the nose and ears of a man guarding the corpse instead of those of the dead body.^ Other witches who murdered a man carefully collected his blood in a bladder and took it away with them.^ But parts of other animals are also employed in their magic, and stones as well as varied herbs and twigs. ^ In trying to entice the beloved Boeotian youth Pamphile used still quivering entrails and poured libations of spring water, milk, and honey, as well as placing the hairs — ^which she supposed were his — with many kinds of incense upon live coals. "^ To turn herself into an owl she anointed herself from top to toe with ointment from one of her little boxes, and also made much use of a lamp.® To regain her human form she has only to drink, and bathe in, spring water mixed with anise and laurel leaf, — "See how great a result is attained by such small and insignificant herbs !"^ — while Lucius is told that eating roses will re- fill, 21. «II, 5. "Surculis et lapillis et id I, 10; II, 20-21. genus frivolis inhalatis." 'HI, 16. 'Ill, 18. *II, 23-30. "HI, 21. •I, 13. »III, 23. 230 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Quacks and char- latans. Store him from asinine to human form.^ The Egyptian prophet makes use of herbs in his necromancy, placing one on the face and another on the breast of the corpse; and he himself wears linen robes and sandals of palm leaves.^ Besides materials, incantations are much employed,^ while the Egyptian prophet turns towards the east and "silently imprecates" the rising sun. As this last suggests, careful observance of rite and ceremony also play their part, and Pamphile's painstaking procedure is described in precise detail. Divine aid is once mentioned ^ and is perhaps another essential for success. More than one witch is called divina^ and magic is termed a divine discipline.^ But we have also heard the witches spoken of as coercing the gods rather than depending upon them for assistance. Their magic seems to be performed mainly by using things and words in the right ways. Besides the witches (magae or sagae) and what Apuleius calls magic by name, a number of other charlatans and superstitions of a kindred nature are mentioned in The Golden Ass. Such a one is the Egyptian "prophet" already described. Such was the Chaldean who for a time as- tounded Corinth by his wonderful predictions, but had been unable to foresee his own shipwreck.'^ On learning this last fact, a business man who was about to pay him one hundred denarii for a prognostication snatched up his money again and made off. Such were the painted disrepu- table crew of the Syrian goddess who went about answering all inquiries concerning the future with the same ambiguous couplet.^ Such were the jugglers whom Lucius saw at Athens swallowing swords or balancing a spear in the 'in, 25. 'U, 28. ' Examples are : I, 3, magico susurramine; II, i, artis magicae nativa cantamina ; II, 5, omnis carminis sepulchralis magistra creditur; II, 22, diris cantamini- bus somno custodes obruunt ; III, 18, tunc decantatis spirantibus fibris; III, 21, multumque cum lucerna secreta collocuta. *I, II, quo numinis ministerio. ^ I, 8, saga, inquit, et divina ; IX, 29, saga ilia et divini potens. 'Ill, 19. 'II, 12-14. *VIII, 26-27; IX, 8. VII APULEWS OF MAD AURA 231 throat while a boy climbed to the top of it.-^ Such were the physicians who turned poisoners." Other passages allude to astrology ^ besides that already Various cited concerning the Chaldean. Divination from dreams is ^<^q^I^ ^' also discussed. In the fourth book the old female servant tells the captive maiden not to be terrified "by the idle fig- ments of dreams" and explains that they often go by con- traries ; but in the last book the hero is several times guided or forewarned by dreams. Omens are believed in. Starting left foot first loses a man a business opportunity,^ and another is kicked out of a house for his ill-omened words."^ The violent deaths of all three sons of the owner of another house are presaged by the following remarkable conglomera- tion of untoward portents: a hen lays a chick instead of an tgg ; blood spurts up from under the table ; a servant rushes in to announce that the wine is boiling in all the jars in the cellar; a weasel is seen dragging a dead snake out-of-doors; a green frog leaps from the sheep-dog's mouth and then a ram tears open the dog's throat at one bite.^ Of scientific discussion or information there is little in Some bits of science the Metamorphoses. When Pamphile foretells the weather and for the next day by inspection of her lamp, Lucius suggests religion, that this artificial flame may retain some properties from its heavenly original. '^ The herb mandragora is described as inducing a sleep similar to death, but as not fatal; and the beaver is said to emasculate itself in order to escape its hunters.^ We should feel lost without mention of a dragon in a book of this sort, and one is introduced who is large enough to devour a man.^ It is interesting to note for pur- poses of comparison, — inasmuch as we shall presently take up the Life of Apollonius of Tyana, a Neo-Pythagorean, and later shall learn from the Recognitions of Clement that the apostle Peter was accustomed to bathe at dawn in the *I, 4. 'II, 11-12. *X, II, 25. *X, II. For bibliography on the 'VIII, 24; XI, 22, 25. mandragora see Frazer (1918) I, * I, 5. 2>77, note 2, in his chapter, "Jacob " II, 26. and the Mandrakes." " IX, 33-34- -VIII, 21. 232 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Magic in other Greek romances. sea, — that Lucius, while still in the form of an ass, in his zeal for purification plunged into the sea and submerged his head beneath the wave seven times, because the divine Pythagoras had proclaimed that number as especially appro- priate to religious rites.^ **It has been said that The Golden Ass is the first book in European literature showing piety in the modern sense, and the most disreputable adventures of Lucius lead, it is true, in the end to a religious climax." But, adds Professor Duncan B. Macdonald, "Few books, in spite of fantastic gleams of color and light, move under such leaden-weighted skies as The Golden Ass. There is no real God in that world; all things are in the hands of en- chanters; man is without hope for here and hereafter; full of yearnings he struggles and takes refuge in strange cults." 2 While magic plays a larger part in The Golden Ass than in any other extant Greek romance, it is not unusual in the others to find the hero and heroine exposed to perils from magicians, or themselves falsely charged with magic, as in the Aethiopica of Heliodorus, where Charicles is "con- demned to be burned on a charge of poisoning." ^ In the Christian romances, too, as the Recognitions will show us later, there are plenty of allusions to magic and demons. Meanwhile we are reminded that in the Roman Empire accu- sations of magic were made not merely in story books but in real life by the trial for magic of the author of the Metamorphoses himself, and we next turn to the Apology which he delivered upon that occasion. Form of the Apologia. IIL Magic in the Apology The Apologia has every appearance of being preserved just as it was delivered and perhaps as it was taken down by shorthand writers ; it does not seem to have undergone the subsequent revision to which Cicero subjected some of his orations. It must have been hastily composed, since *XI, I. •Macdonald (1909), p. 128. "VIII, 9. VII APULEIUS OF MAD AURA 233 Apuleius states that it has been only five or six days since the charges were suddenly brought against him, while he was occupied in defending another lawsuit brought against his wife.^ There also are numerous apparently extempore passages in the oration, notably those where Apuleius alludes to the effect which his statements produce, now upon his accusers, now upon the proconsul sitting in judgment. From the Florida we know that Apuleius was accustomed to improvise.^ Moreover, in the Apology certain statements are made by Apuleius which might be turned against him with damaging effect and which he probably would have omitted, had he had the leisure to go over his speech care- fully before the trial. For instance, in denying the charge that he had caused to be made for himself secretly out of the finest wood a horrible magic figure in the form of a ghost or skeleton, he declares that it is only a little image of Mercury made openly by a well-known artisan of the town.' But he has earlier stated that "Mercury, carrier of incanta- tions," is one of the deities invoked in magic rites ; "* and in another passage ^ has recounted how the outcome of the Mithridatic war was investigated at Tralles by magic, and how a boy, gazing at an image of Mercury in water, had predicted the future in one hundred and sixty verses. But this is not all. In a third passage ® he actually quotes Pythagoras to the effect that Mercury ought not to be carved out of every kind of wood. * Cap. I. Osiris, says Budge at p. 85, "a 'Florida, caps. 24-26. figure was fashioned in such a 'Caps. 61-63. The following way as to include the chief char- passages from E. A. W. Budge, acteristics of the forms of these Egyptian Magic (1899), perhaps gods, and was inserted in a rect- furnish an explanation of the true angular wooden stand which was purpose and character of Apu- intended to represent the coffin or leius's wooden figure: p. 84, chest out of which the trinity "Under the heading of 'Magical Ptah-Seker-Ausar came forth. Figures' must certainly be in- On the figure itself and on the eluded the so-called Ptah-Seker- sides of the stand were inscribed Ausar figure, which is usually prayers. . . ." Such a figure in a made of wood ; it is often solid, coffin might well be described by but is sometimes made hollow, the accusers as the horrible form and is usually let into a rectangu- of a ghost or skeleton, lar wooden stand which may be * Cap. 31. either solid or hollow." To get ° Cap. 42. the protection of Ptah, Seker, and ' Cap. 43. 234 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Philosophy If in the Metamorphoses the practice of magic is im- magic. py^g^j chiefly to old-wives, in the Apology a main concern of Apuleius is to defend philosophers in general ^ and himself in particular from "the calumny of magic." ^ Epimenides, Orpheus, Pythagoras, Ostanes, Empedocles, Socrates, and Plato have been so suspected, and it consoles Apuleius in his own trial to reflect that he is but sharing the undeserved fate of "so many and such great men." ^ In this connection he states that those philosophers who have taken an especial interest in theology, "who investigate the providence of the universe too curiously and celebrate the gods too enthusias- tically," are the ones to be suspected of magic; while those who devote themselves to natural science pure and simple are more liable to be called irreligious atheists. Magic But what is it to be a magician, Apuleius asks the ac- ^ "^ • cusers,* and therewith we face again the question of the definition of magic, and Apuleius gradually answers his own query in the course of the oration. Magic, in the ordinary use of the word, is described in much the same way as in the Metamorphoses. It has been proscribed by Roman law since the Twelve Tables ; it is hideous and horrible ; it is secret and solitary; it murmurs its incantations in the dark- ness of the night.^ It is an art of ill repute, of illicit evil deeds, of crimes and enormities.^ Instead of simply calling it magia, Apuleius often applies to it the double expres- sion, magica maleficia.'^ Perhaps he does this intention- ally. In one passage he states that he will refute certain charges which the accusers have brought against him, first, by showing that the things he has been charged with have nothing to do with magic ; and second, by proving that, even if he were a magician, there was no cause or occasion for his having committed any maleficiuni in this connection.' * Caps. 1-3. mcnt soupgonnes de Magie, Paris, 'Cap. 2. 1625. •Caps. 27 and 31. For the same * Cap. 25. thought applied in the case of " Cap. 47. medieval men see Gabriel Naude, * Cap. 25. Apologie pour tons les grands ' Caps. 9, 42, 61, 6^. ^"rsonoges qui ont este fiusse- " Cap. 28. VII APULEWS OF MAD AURA 235 That is to say, maleficium, literally "an evil deed," means an injury done another by means of magic art. The pro- consul sitting in judgment takes a similar view and has asked the accusers, Apuleius tells us,^ when they asserted that a woman had fallen into an epileptic fit in his pres- ence and that this was due to his having bewitched her, whether the woman died or what good her having a fit did Apuleius. This is significant as hinting that Roman law did not condemn a man for magic unless he were proved to have committed some crime or made some unjust gain thereby. Does Apuleius for his part mean to suggest a distinction Good and between magia and magica maleficia, and to hint, as he did not do in the Metamorphoses, that there is a good as well as a bad magic? He cannot be said to maintain any such dis- tinction consistently; often in the Apology magia alone as well as maleficium is used in a bad sense. But he does sug- gest such a thought and once voices it quite explicitly.^ "If," he says, "as I have read in many authors, magus in the Persian language corresponds to the word sacerdos in ours, what crime, pray, is it to be a priest and duly know and un- derstand and cherish the rules of ceremonial, the sacred cus- toms, the laws of religion?" Plato describes magic as part of the education of the young Persian prince by the four wisest and best men of the realm, one of whom instructs him in the magic of Zoroaster which is the worship of the gods. "Do you hear, you who rashly charge me with magic, that this art is acceptable to the immortal gods, consists in celebrating and reverencing them, is pious and prophetic, and long since was held by Zoroaster and Oromazes, its au- thors, to be noble and divine?" ^ In common speech, how- ever, Apuleius recognizes that a magician is one "who by his power of addressing the immortal gods is able to accom- plish whatever he will by an almost incredible force of in- cantations." But anyone who believes that another man possesses such a power as this should be afraid to accuse him, * Cap. 48. " Cap. 25. ' Cap. 26. 236 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. says Apuleius, who thinks by this ingenious dilemma to prove the insincerity of his accusers. Nevertheless he pres- ently mentions that Mercury, Venus, Luna, and Trivia are the deities usually summoned in the ceremonies of the ma- gicians.^ Magic and It will be noted that Apuleius connects magic with the gods and religion more in the Apology than in the Metamor- phoses. There his emphasis was on the natural materials employed by the witches and their almost scientific labora- tories. But in the Apology both Persian Magi and common magicians are associated with the worship or invocation of the gods, and it is theologians rather than natural philoso- phers who incur suspicion of magic. Magic and But it may be that the reason why Apuleius abstains in science • • • the Apology from suggesting any connection or confusion between magic and natural science is that the accusers have already laid far too much stress upon this point for his lik- ing. He has been charged with the composition of a tooth- powder,- with use of a mirror,^ with the purchase of a sea- hare, a poisonous mollusc, and two other fish appropriate from their obscene shapes and names for use as love-charms,* He is said to have had a horrible wooden image or seal con- structed secretly for use in his magic, ^ to keep other instru- ments of his art mysteriously wrapped in a handkerchief in the house, ^ and to have left in the vestibule of another house where he lodged "many feathers of birds" and much soot on the walls. "^ All these charges make it evident that natural and artificial objects are, as in the Metamorphoses, consid- ered essential or at least usual in performing magic. More- over, so ready have the accusers shown themselves to inter- pret the interest of Apuleius in natural science as an evi- dence of the practice of magic by him, that he sarcastically remarks ^ that he is glad that they were unaware that he had read Theophrastus On beasts that bite and sting and Ni- *Cap. 31. "Cap. 61, * Cap. 6. " Cap. 53- • Cap. 13. ' Cap. 58. *Caps. 30, 33, "Cap. 41, VII APULEIUS OF MAD AURA 237 cander On the bites of wild beasts (usually called Theriaca),^ or they would have accused him of being a poisoner as well as a magician. Apuleius shows that he really is a student, if not an au- Medical thority, in medicine and natural science. The gift of the scientific tooth-powder and the falling of the woman in a fit were inci- knowledgt dents of his occasional practice of medicine, and he also sees leius. no harm in his seeking certain remedies from fish.^ He repeats Plato's theory of disease from the Timaeus and cites Theophrastus's admirable work On Epileptics.^ Mention of the mirror starts him off upon an optical disquisition in which he remarks upon theories of vision and reflection, upon liquid and solid, flat and convex and concave mirrors, and cites the Catoptrica of Archimedes.* He also regards himself as an experimental zoologist and has conducted all his researches publicly.^ He procures fish in order to study them scientifically as Aristotle, Theophrastus, Eudemus, Lycon, and other pupils of Plato did.® He has read innumer- able books of this sort and sees no harm in testing by ex- perience what has been written. Indeed he is himself writ- ing in both Greek and Latin a work on Natural Questions in which he hopes to add what has been omitted in earlier books and to remedy some of their defects and to arrange all in a handier and more systematic fashion. He has pas- sages from the section on fishes in this work read aloud in court. Throughout the Apology Apuleius occasionally airs his He repeats scientific attainments by specific statements and illustrations errx)!-^'^ from the zoological and other scientific fields. Indeed the ^ Nicander lived in the second at Paris, which O. M. Dalton century B.C. under Attalus III (Bycantine Art and Archaeology, of Pergamum. Of his works p. 483) says "is evidently a pains- there are extant the Theriaca in taking copy of a very early orig- 958 hexameters and another poem, inal, perhaps almost contemporary the Alexipharmaca, of 630 lines; with Nicander himself." ed. J. G. Schneider, 1792 and ^ Cap. 40. 1816; by O. Schneider, 1856. 'Caps. 49-51. There is an illuminated eleventh * Caps. 15-16. century manuscript of the Then- "Cap. 40. aca in the Bibliotheque Nationale ° Cap. 36. 238 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. presence of such allusions is as noticeable in the Apology as was their absence from the Metamorphoses. But they go to show that his knowledge was greater than his discretion, since for the most part they repeat familiar errors of con- temporary science. We are told — the story is also in Aris- totle, Pliny, and Aelian — how the crocodile opens its jaws to have its teeth picked by a friendly bird,^ that the viper gnaws its way out of its mother's womb,^ that fish are spontane- ously generated from slime,^ and that burning the stone gag- ates will cause an epileptic to have a fit.* On the other hand, the skin shed by a spotted lizard is a remedy for epilepsy, but you must snatch it up speedily or the lizard will turn and devour it, either from natural appetite or just because he knows that you want it.^ This tale, so characteristic of the virtues attributed to parts of animals and the human motives ascribed to the animals themselves, is taken by Apu- leius from a treatise by Theophrastus entitled Jealous Ani- mals. Apparent In defending what he terms his scientific investigations o^"maei(f fi"oni the aspersion of magic Apuleius is at times either a and occult trifle disingenuous and inclined to trade upon the ignorance of his judge and accusers, or else not as well informed him- self as he might be in matters of natural science and of oc- cult science. He contends that fish are not employed in magic arts, asks mockingly if fish alone possess some prop- erty hidden from other men and known to magicians, and affirms that if the accuser knows of any such he must be a magician rather than Apuleius.® He insists that he did not make use of a sea-hare and describes the "fish" in question in detail,''' but this description, as is pointed out in Butler and Owen's edition of the Apology,^ tends to convince us that it really was a sea-hare. In the case of the two fish with obscene names, he ridicules the arguing from similarity of names to similarity of powers in the things so designated, as *Cap. 8. 'Cap. 51. ' Cap. 85. ' Caps. 30, 42. ' Cap. 38. ' Cap. 40. ' Cap. 45- " P. 98. virtue. VII APULEIUS OF MAD AURA 239 if that were not what magicians and astrologers and believ- ers in sympathy and antipathy were always doing. You might as well say, he declares, that a pebble is good for the stone and a crab for an ulcer,^ as if precisely these remedies for those diseases were not found in the Pseudo-Dioscorides and in Pliny's Natural History."^ It is hardly probable that in the passages just cited Apu- Despite an leius was pretending to be ignorant of matters with which ^f ]^^ow\°" he was really acquainted, since as a rule he is eager to show edge, off his knowledge even of magic itself. Thus the accusers affirmed that he had bewitched a boy by incantations in a secret place with an altar and a lamp ; Apuleius criticizes their story by saying that they should have added that he employed the boy for purposes of divination, citing tales which he has read to this efifect in Varro and many other authors.^ And he himself is ready to believe that the hu- man soul, especially in one who is still young and innocent, may, if soothed and distracted by incantations and odors, forget the present, return to its divine and immortal nature, and predict the future. When he reads some technical Greek names from his treatise on fishes, he suspects that the accuser will protest that he is uttering magic names in some Egyptian or Babylonian rite.^ And as a matter of fact, when later he mentioned the names of a number of celebrated ma- gicians,^ the accusers appear to have raised such a tumult that Apuleius deemed it prudent to assure the judge that he had simply read them in reputable books in public libraries, and that to know such names was one thing, to practice the magic art quite another matter. Apuleius affirms that one of his accusers had consulted Attitude he knows not what Chaldeans how he might profitably marry toward ° ^ _ •' •' astrology. off his daughter, and that they had prophesied truthfully that her first husband would die within a few months. "As for what she would inherit from him, they fixed that up, as ^ Cap. 35. Giessen, 1908, p. 224. 'So Abt has pointed out: Die * Caps. A^-AZ- Apologie des Apuleius von Ma- * Cap. 38. dau^a und die antike Zauberei, * Cap. 90. ' 240 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. they usually do, to suit the person consulting them." ^ But in this respect their prediction turned out to be quite incor- rect. We are left in some doubt, however, whether their failure in the second case is not regarded as due merely to their knavery, and their first successful prediction to the rule of the stars. Elsewhere, however, Apuleius does state that belief in fate and in magic are incompatible, since there is no place left for the force of spells and incantations, if everything is ruled by fate.^ But in other extant works ^ he speaks of the heavenly bodies as visible gods, and Lauren- tius Lydus attributes astrological treatises to him.* His theory In one passage of the Apology Apuleius affirms his be- lief with Plato in the existence of certain intermediate be- ings or powers between gods and men, who govern all div- inations and the miracles of the magicians.^ In the treatise on the god or demon of Socrates ® he repeats this thought and tells us more of these mediators or demons. Their na- tive element is the air, which Apuleius thought extended as far as the moon,'^ just as Aristotle ^ tells of animals who live in fire and are extinguished with it, and just as the fifth element, that "divine and inviolable" ether, contains the di- vine bodies of the stars. With the superior gods the demons have immortality in common, but like mortals they are sub- ject to passions and to feeling and capable of reason.^ But their bodies are very light and like clouds, a point peculiar to themselves. ^° Since both Plutarch and Apuleius wrote essays on the demon of Socrates and both derived, or thought that they derived, their theories concerning demons from Plato, it is interesting to note some divergences be- tween their accounts. Apuleius confines them to the atmos- phere beneath the moon more exclusively than Plutarch does; unlike Plutarch he represents them as immortal, not merely long-lived; and he has more to say about the sub- ' Cap. 97. " Cap. 43. 'Cap. 84. • Cap. 6. *De mundo, cap. i; De deo '■ De deo Socratis, cap. 8. Socratis, cap. 4. ^ Hist. Anim., V,_ 19. * De mens., IV., 7, 73 ; De os- ^ De deo Socratis, cap. 13. tent., 3, 4, 7, 10, 44, 54. ^'' Ibid., caps. 9-1'^ VII APULEIUS OF MAD AURA 241 stance of their bodies and less concerning their relations with disembodied souls. Apuleius would have been a well-known name in the Apuleius middle ages, if only indirectly through the use made by nr'ddle Augustine in The City of God ^ of the Metamorphoses in ages, describing magic and of the De dec Socratis in discussing demons.^ He also speaks of Apuleius in three of his letters,^ declaring that for all his magic arts he could win neither a throne nor judicial power. Augustine was not quite sure whether Apuleius had actually been transformed into an ass or not. A century earlier Lactantius * spoke of the many marvels remembered of Apuleius. That manuscripts of the Metamorphoses, Apology and Florida were not numerous until after the twelfth and thirteenth centuries may be in- ferred from the fact that all the extant manuscripts seem to be derived from a single one of the later eleventh century, written in a Lombard hand and perhaps from Monte Cas- sino.^ The article on Apuleius in Pauly and Wissowa states that the best manuscripts of his other works are an eleventh century codex at Brussels and a twelfth century manuscript at Munich,^ but does not mention a twelfth century manu- script of the De deo Socratis in the British Museum.'^ An- other indication that in the twelfth century there were manu- scripts of Apuleius in England or at Chartres and Paris is that John of Salisbury borrows from the De dogmate Pla- tonis in his De migis curialiiim} In the earlier middle ages there was ascribed to Apuleius a work on herbs of which we shall treat later. ^ XVIII, 18. 395 A.D. and 397 A.D. G. Huet, *VIII, 14-22. "Le roman d'Apulee etait-il * Epistles 102, 136, 138, in Migne, connu au moyen age," Le Moyen PL, vol. 23. Age (1917), 44-52, holds that the * Diz'in. Instit., V, 3. Metamorphoses was not known * Codex Laurentianus, plut. 68, directly to the medieval vernacu- 2. _ The same MS contains the lar romancers. See also B. Stum- Histories and Annals (XI-XVI) fall. Das Mdrchen von Amor und of Tacitus. A subscription to the Psyche in Seinem Fortleben, Leip- ninth book of the Metamorphoses zig, 1907. indicates that the original manu- * CLM 621. script from which this was de- ' Harleian 3969. rived or copied was produced in " VII, $• CHAPTER VIII PHILOSTRATUS S LIFE OF APOLLONIUS OF TYANA Compared with Apuleius. Compared with Apuleius — Philostratus's sources — Time and space covered — Philostratus's audience — Object of the Life — Apollonius charged with magic — A confusion of terms — The Magi and magic — Apollonius and the Magi — Philostratus on wizards — Apollonius and wizards — Quacks and old-wives — The Brahmans — Marvels of the Brahmans — Magical methods of the Brahmans — Medicine of the Brahmans — Some signs of astrology — Interest in natural science — Nat- ural law or special providence? — Cases of scepticism — Anecdotes of animals — Dragons of India — Occult virtues of gems — Absence of num- ber mysticism — Mantike or the art of divination — Divining power of Apollonius — Dreams — Interpretation of omens — Animals and divina- tion— Divination by fire — Other so-called predictions — Apollonius and the demons — Not all demons are evil — Philostratus's faith in demons — The ghost of Achilles — Healing the sick and raising the dead — Other marvels — Golden wrynecks and the iunx — Why named iunx? — Apollonius in the middle ages. Some fifty years after the birth of Apuleius occurred that of Philostratus, whose career and interests were some- what similar, although he came from the Aegean island of Lemnos instead of the neighborhood of Carthage and wrote in Greek rather than Latin. But like Apuleius he was a student of rhetoric and went first to Athens and then to Rome, The resemblance is perhaps closer between Apuleius and Apollonius of Tyana, whose life Philostratus wrote and of whom we know more than of his biographer. Like Apu- leius Apollonius had to defend himself in court against the accusation of magic, and Philostratus gives us what pur- ports to be his apology on that occasion. Two centuries afterwards Augustine in one of his letters ^ names Apollo- nius and Apuleius as examples of men who were addicted to the magic art and who, the pagans said, performed greater ' Ep. 136. 242 CHAP. VIII APOLLO NWS OF TV AN A 243 miracles than Christ did. A century before Augustine Lactantius states ^ that a certain philosopher who had "vomited forth" three books "against the Christian religion and name" had compared the miracles of Apollonius favor- ably with those of Christ; Lactantius marvels that he did not mention Apuleius as well. Like Apuleius, Apollonius was a man of broad learning who traveled widely and sought initiation into mysteries and cults. Apuleius was a Platonist ; Apollonius, a Pythagorean. We may also note a resemblance between the Metamorphoses and the Life of Apollonius. Both seem to elaborate earlier writings and both have much to say of transformations, wizards, demons, and the occult. The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, however, must be taken more seriously than the Metamorphoses. If the African's work is a rhetorical romance embodying a certain auto- biographical element, a Milesian tale to which personal re- ligious experiences are annexed, then the work by Philos- tratus is a rhetorical biography with a tinge of romance and a good deal of sermonizing. Philostratus ^ composed the Life of Apollonius about Phiio- 217 A. D, at the request of the learned wife of the emperor stratus's . . ^ ^ sources. Septimius Severus, to whose literary circle he belonged. The empress had come into possession of some hitherto unknown memoirs of Apollonius by a certain Damis of Nineveh, who had been his disciple and had accompanied him upon many of his travels. Some member of Damis's family had brought these documents to the empress's atten- tion. Some scholars incline to the view that she was de- ceived by an impostor, but it hardly seems that there would be sufficient profit in the venture to induce anyone to take the pains to forge such memoirs. Also I can see no reason why a contemporary of Apollonius should not have said and believed everything which Philostratus represents Damis as saying; on the contrary it seems to me just what would be ^Divin. Instit., V, 2-3. named Philostratus and which ^ works should be assigned to each, Concerning other writers see Schmid (1913) 608-20. 244 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. said by a naif, gullible, and devoted disciple, who was in- clined to exaggerate the abilities and achievements of his master and to take literally everything that Apollonius ut- tered ironically or figuratively. Other accounts of Apollo- nius were already in existence by a Maximus of Aegae, where Apollonius had spent part of his life, and by Moera- genes, but the memoirs of Damis seem to have offered much new material. Philostratus accordingly wrote a new life based largely upon Damis, but also making use of the will and epistles of Apollonius, many of which the emperor Ha- drian had earlier collected, and of the traditions still current in the cities and temples which Apollonius had frequented and which Philostratus now took the trouble to visit. It has sometimes been suggested, chiefly by Christian writers intent upon discrediting the career of Apollonius, that Phil- ostratus invented Damis and his memoirs. But Philostratus seems straightforward in describing the pains he has been to in preparing the Life, and certainly is more explicit and systematic in stating his sources than other ancient biogra- phers like Plutarch and Suetonius are. He appears to fol- low his sources rather closely and not to invent new inci- dents, although he may, like Thucydides and other ancient historians, have taken liberties with the speeches and argu- ments put into his characters' mouths. And through the work, despite his belief in demons and marvels, he now and then gives evidence of a moderate and sceptical mind, at least for his times. Time and Apollonius lived in the first century of our era and died covered. during the reign of Nerva well advanced in years. It is therefore of a period over a century before his own that Phil- ostratus writes. He is said to commit a number of errors in history and geography,^ but we must remember that mis- takes in geography were a failing of the best ancient his- * See article on Apollonius of that he came to the conclusion that Tyana in Pauly-Wissowa. Priaulx, either Apollonius never visited In- The Indian Travels of Apollonius dia, or, if he did, that Damis of Tyana, London, 1873, p. 62, "never accompanied him but fab- found the geography of Apollo- ricated the journal Philostratus nius's Indian travels so erroneous speaks of." VIII APOLLONIUS OF TYANA 245 torians such as Polybius, and the general picture drawn of the emperors and poHtics of Apollonius's time is not far wrong. It is true that Philostratus also makes use of tra- dition which has gradually formed since the death of Apol- lonius, and introduces explanations or comments of his own on various matters. It is, however, not the facts either of Apollonius's career or of his times that concern us but the beliefs and superstitions which we find in Philostratus's Life of him. Whether these are of the first, second, or early third century is scarcely necessary or possible for us to distinguish. If Damis records them, Philostratus accepts them, and the probability is that they apply not only to all three centuries but to a long period before and after. The territory covered in the Life is almost as extensive ; it ranges all over the Roman Empire, alludes occasionally to the Celts and Scythians, and opens up Ethiopia and India ^ to our gaze. Apollonius was a great traveler and there are many inter- esting and informing passages concerning ships, sailing, pi- lots, merchants and sea-trade.^ If we ask further, for what class of readers was the philo^- Life intended, the answer is, for the intellectual and learned. aiKjJ^nce Apollonius himself was distinctly a Hellene. Philostratus represents him as often quoting Homer and other bygone Greek authors, or mentioning names from early Greek his- tory such as Lycurgus and Aristides. One of his aims was to restore the degenerate Greek cities of his own day to their ancient morality. Furthermore, Apollonius never cared for many disciples, and neither required them to observe all the rules of life which he himself followed, nor admitted them to all his interviews with other sages and his initiations into sacred mysteries. This aloofness of the sage is somewhat reflected in his biographer. The Life is an attempt not to ^ Priaulx, however, regarded its Indian merchants — Alexandria," statements concerning India as or from earHer authors, such as might have been "easily- collected at that great mart for ^III, 23, 35; IV, 9, 32; V, 20; Indian commodities and resort for VI, 12, 16; VII, 10, 12, 15-16. 246 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Object of the Life. Apollonius charged with magic. popularize the teachings of Apollonius but to justify him before the learned world. The charge had been frequently made that Apollonius came illegitimately by his wisdom and acquired it violently by magic. Philostratus would restore him to the ranks of true philosophers who gained wisdom by worthy and licit methods. He declares that he was not a wizard, as many suppose, but a notable Pythagorean, a man of broad culture, an intellectual and moral teacher, a religious ascetic and re- former, probably even a prophet of divine and superhuman nature. It is not now so generally held by Christian writers as it used to be that Philostratus wrote the Life with the Gospel story of Christ in mind, and that his purpose was to imitate or to parody or to oppose a rival narrative to the Christian story and teaching. At no point in the Life does Philostratus betray unmistakably even a passing acquaint- ance with the Gospels, much less display any sign of animus against them. Moreover, the Christian historian and apolo- gist, Eusebius, who lived in the century following Philos- tratus and was familiar with his Life of Apollonius, in writ- ing a reply to a treatise in which Hierocles, a provincial gov- ernor under Diocletian, had compared Apollonius with Jesus, distinctly states that Hierocles was the first to sug- gest such an idea.^ Such similarities then as may exist be- tween the Life and the Gospels must be taken as examples of beliefs common to that age. Apollonius was accused of sorcery or magic during his lifetime by the rival philosopher Euphrates. The four books on Apollonius written by Moeragenes also portrayed him as a wizard ; ^ and Eusebius in his reply to Hierocles ascribed the miracles wrought by Apollonius to sorcery and the aid of evil demons.^ Earlier the satirist Lucian de- ^ See the treatise of Eusebius Against Apollonius. Lactantius (Divin. Inst., V, 2-3) probably had reference to Hierocles in speaking of a philosopher who had written three books against Christianity and declared the miracles of Apollonius as wonder- ful as those of Christ. ' So Origen says (Against Cel- sus, VI, 41) and Philostratus im- plies (I, 3). ' See the Against Apollonius, caps. 31, 35. VIII APOLLONIUS OF TYANA 247 scribed Alexander the pseudo-prophet as having been in his youth an apprentice to "one of the charlatans who deal in magic and mystic incantations, ... a native of Tyana, an associate of the great Apollonius, and acquainted with all his heroics." ^ In defending his hero against these charges Philostratus A con- is guilty himself both of some ambiguous use of terms and of terms of some loose thinking. The same ambiguous terminology, however, will be found in other discussions of magic. In a few passages Philostratus denies that Apollonius was a /xd7os but much oftener exculpates him from the charge of being a 76:7s or yoijTrjs. With the latter word or words there is no difficulty. It means a wizard, sorcerer, or en- chanter, and is always employed in a sinister or disreputable sense. With the term fxayos the case is different, as with the Latin magus. It may signify an evil magician, or it may refer to one of the Magi of the East, who are generally re- garded as wise and good men. This delicate distinction, however, is not easy to maintain and Philostratus fails to do so, while Mr. Conybeare in his English translation - makes confusion worse confounded not only by translating nayos as "wizard" instead of "magician," but by sometimes doing this when it really should be rendered as "one of the Magi." It may also be noted that Philostratus locates the Magi in Babylonia as well as in Persia. To begin with, in his second chapter Philostratus says The Magi that some consider Apollonius a magician "because he con- ^" magic sorted with the Magi of the Babylonians, and the Brahmans of the Indians, and the Gymnosophists in Egypt." But they are wrong in this. "For Empedocles and Pythagoras him- self and Democritus, although they associated with the Magi and spake many divine utterances, yet did not stoop to the art" (of magic). Plato, too, he goes on to say, although * 'AXf^avSpos, V xPevSo/xavTis, cap. 5. text in the recent Loeb Qassical In the passage quoted I have used Library edition, both racy and ac- Fowler's translation. curate, and have employed it in a " In other respects, however, I number of the quotations which have usually found this transla- follow, tion, which accompanies the Greek 248 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. he visited Egypt and its priests and prophets, was never re- garded as a magician. In this passage, then, Philostratus closely associates the Magi with the magic art, and I am not sure whether the last "Magi" should not be "magicians." On the other hand his acquittal of Democritus and Pythag- oras from the charge of magic does not agree with Pliny, who ascribed a large amount of magic to them both. Apollonius himself evidently did not regard the Magi whom he met in Babylon and Susa as evil magicians. One of the chief aims of his scheme of oriental travel "was to acquaint himself thoroughly with their lore." He wished to discover whether they were wise in divine things, as they were said to be.^ Sacrifices and religious rites were per- formed under their supervision.^ Apollonius did not permit Damis to accompany him when he visited the Magi at noon and again about midnight and conversed with them.^ But Apollonius himself said that he learned some things from them and taught them some things ; he told Damis that they were "wise men, but not in all respects" ; on leaving their country he asked the king to give the presents which the monarch had intended for Apollonius himself to the Magi, whom he described then as "men who both are wise and wholly devoted to you." * Quite different is the attitude towards witchcraft an*! wizards of both Apollonius and his biographer. In the opin- ion of Philostratus wizards are of all men most wretched.^ They try to violate nature and to overcome fate by such methods as inquisition of spirits, barbaric sacrifices, incan- tations and besmearings. Simple-minded folk attribute great powers to them ; and athletes desirous of winning vic- tories, shopkeepers intent upon success in business ventures, and lovers in especial are continually resorting to them and apparently never lose faith in them despite repeated failures, despite occasional exposure or ridicule of their methods in * I, 32. "1,29. *I. 26. * I, 40. »V, 12. VIII APOLLONIUS OF TYANA 249 books and writing, and despite the condemnation of witch- craft both by law and nature.^ Apollonius was certainly no wizard, argues Philostratus, for he never opposed the Fates but only predicted what they would bring to pass, and he acquired this foreknowledge not by sorcery but by divine revelation.^ Nevertheless Apollonius is frequently accused of being Apollonius a wizard by others in the pages of Philostratus. At Athens ^i2ar(js he was refused initiation into the mysteries on this ground,^ and at Lebadea the priests wished to exclude him from the oracular cave of Trophonius for the same reason.^ When the dogs guarding the temple of Dictynna in Crete fawned upon him instead of barking at his approach, the guardians of the shrine arrested him as a wizard and would-be temple robber who had bewitched the dogs by something that he had given them to eat.^ Apollonius also had to defend him- self against the accusation of witchcraft in his hearing or trial before Domitian.^ He then denied that one is a wizard merely because one has prescience, or that wearing linen gar- ments proves one a sorcerer. Wizards shun the shrines and temples of the gods ; they make use of trenches dug in the earth and invoke the gods of the lower world. They are greedy for gain and pseudo-philosophers. They possess no true science, depending for success in their art upon the stupidity of their dupes and devotees. They imagine what does not exist and disbelieve the truth. They work their sorcery by night and in darkness when those employing them cannot see or hear well. Apollonius himself was accused to Domitian of having sacrificed an Arcadian boy at night and consulted his entrails with Nerva in order to determine the latter's prospects of becoming emperor."^ When before his trial Domitian was about to put Apollonius in fetters, the sage proposed the dilemma that if he were a wizard he could not be kept in bonds, or that if Domitian were able 'VII, 39. "VIII, 30. Tv/'i8. 'VIII, 7. *VIII, 19. "VII, 20. 250 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap^ Quacks and old- wives. The Brahmans. to fetter him, he was obviously no wizard.^ This need not imply, however, that Apollonius believed that wizards really could free themselves, for he was at times ironical. If so, Domitian replied in kind by assuring him that he would at least keep him in fetters until he transformed himself into water or a wild beast or a tree. Closely akin to the goetes or wizards are the old hags and quack-doctors who offer one Indian spices or boxes sup- posed to contain bits of stone taken from the moon, stars, or depths of earth.^ Likewise the divining old-wives who go about with sieves in their hands and pretend by means of their divination to heal sick animals for shepherds and cowherds.^ We also read that Apollonius expelled from the cities along the Hellespont various Egyptians and Chaldeans who were collecting money on the pretense of offering sacrifices to avert the earthquakes which were then occurring.'* We have heard Philostratus mention the Brahmans of India in the same breath with the Magi of Persia and imply that Apollonius's association with them contributed to his reputation as a magician.^ In another passage ^ Philostratus places goetes and Brahmans in unfortunate juxtaposition, and, immediately after condemning the wizards and defend- ing Apollonius from the charge of sorcery, goes on to say that when he saw the automatic tripods and cup-bearers of the Indians, he did not ask how they were operated. "He applauded them, it is true, but did not think fit to imitate them." But of course Apollonius should not even have ap- plauded these automatons, which set food and poured wine before the guests of the Brahmans, if they were the con- trivances of wizards. And in another passage,'^ where he defends the signs and wonders wrought by the Brahmans against the aspersions cast upon them by the Gymnosophists of Ethiopia, Apollonius explains their practice of levitation 'VII, 34. 'VII, 39. "VI, II ; III, 43. 'VI, 41. 'I, 2. 'V, 12. VI, II. VIII APOLLONWS OF TYANA 251 as an act of worship and communion with the sun god, and hence far removed from the rites performed in deep trenches and hollows of the earth to the gods of the lower world which we have heard him mention before as a practice char- acteristic of wizards. Nevertheless the feats ascribed to the Brahmans are cer- Marvels tainly sufficiently akin to magic to excuse Philostratus for Brahmans. mentioning them along with the Magi and wizards and to justify us in considering them. Indeed, modern scholarship informs us that in the Vedic texts the word "brahman" in the neuter means a "charm, rite, formulary, prayer," and "that the caste of the Brahmans is nothing but the men who have hrdhman or magic power. ^ In marked contrast to the taciturnity of Apollonius as to his interviews with the Magi of Babylon and Susa is the long account repeated by Phi- lostratus from Damis of the sayings and doings of the sages of India. As for Apollonius himself, "he was always re- counting to everyone what the Indians said and did." ^ They knew that he was approaching when he was yet afar off and sent a messenger who greeted him by name.^ lar- chas, their chief, also knew that Apollonius had a letter for him and that a delta was missing in it, and he told Apol- lonius many events of his past life. "We see, O Apollo- nius," he said, "the signs of the soul, tracing them by a myriad symbols." ^ The Brahmans lived in a castle con- cealed by clouds, where they rendered themselves invisible at will. The rocks along the path up to their abode were still marked by the cloven feet, beards, faces, and backs of the Pans who had tried to scale the height under the lead- ership of Dionysus and Heracles, but had been hurled down headlong.^ Here too was a well for testing oaths, a purify- *J. E. Harrison, Themis, Cam- from the sacrificial lore of the bridge, 1912, p. 72. "The Buddha Vedas : "E. B. Havell, A Hand- himself condemned as worthless book of Indian Art, 1920, p. 6, and the whole system of Vedic sacri- see p. 32 for the birth of Buddha fices, including in his ban astrol- under the sign Taurus, ogy, divination, spells, omens, and ^VI, 10. witchcraft; but in the earliest 'III, 12. Buddhist stupas known to us, the *III, 16. symbolism is entirely borrowed " III, 13. 252 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. ing fire, and the jars in which the winds and rain were bot- tled up. Magical When the messenger of the Brahmans greeted Apollonius of^\he^^ by name, the latter remarked to the astounded Damis, "We Brahmans. have Come to men who are wise without art (drexvccs), for they seem to have the gift of foreknowledge." ^ As a mat- ter of fact, however, most of the subsequent wonders wrought by the Brahmans were not performed without the use of paraphernalia and rites very similar to those of magic. Each Brahman carries a staff — or magic wand — and wears a ring, which are both prized for their occult virtue by which the Brahmans can accomplish anything they wish.^ They clothe themselves in sacred garments made of "a. wool that springs wild from the ground" (cotton?) and which the earth will not permit anyone else to pluck. larchas also showed Apollonius and Damis a marvelous stone called Pan- tarhe, which attracted and bound other stones to itself and which, although only the size of his finger-nail and formed in earth four fathoms deep, had such virtue that it broke the earth open.^ But it required great skill to secure this gem. "We only," said the Brahman, "can obtain this pan- tarhe, partly by doing things and partly by saying things," in other words by incantations and magical operations. Be- fore performing their rite of levitation tTiey bathed and anointed themselves with a certain drug. "Then they stood like a chorus with larchas as leader and with their rods up- lifted struck the earth, which heaving like the sea-wave raised them up in the air two cubits high." * The metallic tripods and cup-bearers which served the king of the coun- try when he came to visit the Brahmans appeared from no- where laden with food and wine exactly as if by magic.^ The medical practice, if we may so call it, of the Brah- mans was tinged, to say the least, with magic. A dislocated hip, indeed, they appear to have cured by massage, and a * III, 12. Rut perhaps the trans- lation should be, "men who are ex- ceedingly wise." 'HI, IS. =■111, 46-47. *III, 17. Mil, 27. VIII APOLLONIUS OF TYANA 253 blind man and a paralytic are healed by unspecified methods.^ But a boy is cured of inherited alcoholism by chewing owl's eggs that have been boiled; a woman who complains that her sixteen-year-old son has for two years been vexed by a demon is sent away with a letter full of threats or incan- tations to employ against the spirit; and another woman's sufferings in childbirth are prevented by directing her hus- band to enter her chamber with a live hare concealed in his bosom and to release the hare after he has walked around his wife once. larchas, indeed, attributed the origin of medicine to divination or divine revelation.^ His theory was that Asclepius, as the son of Apollo, learned by oracles what drugs to employ for the different diseases, in what amounts to mix the drugs, what the antidotes for poisons were, and how to use even poisons as remedies. This last especially he affirmed that no one would dare attempt with- out foreknowledge. The Brahmans seem to have made some use of astrology Some in working their feats of magic. Damis at any rate said that astrology when Apollonius bade farewell to the sages, larchas made him a present of seven rings named after the planets, which he wore in turn upon the appropriate days of the week.^ Perhaps, too, the seven swords of adamant which larchas had rediscovered as a child had some connection with the planets.^ Moeragenes ascribed four books on foretelling the .^t^ future by the stars to Apollonius himself, but Philostratus v/sf was unable to find any such work by Apollonius extant in .;.^ his day.^ And unless it be an allusion to Chaldeans which ' we have already noted, there is no further mention of as- trology in Philostratus's Life — a rather remarkable fact con- sidering that he wrote for the court of Septimius Severus, the builder of the Septizonium. The philosopher Euphrates, who is represented by Philos- Interest tratus as jealous of Apollonius, once advised the emperor science Vespasian, when Apollonius was present, to embrace natural ^III, 38-40. "Ill, 21. Mil, 44. 'Ill, 41. mi, 41. 254 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. philosophy — or a philosophy in accordance with natural law — but to beware of philosophers who pretended to have secret intercourse with the gods.^ There was justification in the latter charge against Apollonius, but it should not be assumed that his mysticism rendered him unfavorable to natural science. On the contrary he is frequently represented by Philostratus as whiling away the time along the road by discussing with Damis such natural problems as the delta of the Nile or the tides at the mouth of the Guadalquivir. He was especially interested in the habits of animals and the properties of gems. Vespasian was fond of listening to "his graphic stories of the rivers of India and the animals" of that country, as well as to "his statements of what the gods revealed concerning the empire." ^ Some of the ques- tions which Apollonius put to the Brahmans concerned na- ture.^ He asked of what the world was composed, and when they said, "Of elements," he asked if there were four. They believed, however, in a fifth element, ether, from which the gods had been generated and which they breathe as men breathe air. They also regarded the universe as a living animal. He further inquired of them whether land or sea predominated on the earth's surface,* and this same attitude of scientific inquiry and of curiosity about natural forces and objects is frequently met in the Life. Apollonius believed, as we shall see, in omens and por- tents, and interpreted an earthquake at Antioch as a divine warning to the inhabitants.^ The Brahman sages, moreover, regarded prolonged drought as a punishment visited by the world soul upon human sinfulness.^ On the other hand, Apollonius gave a natural explanation of volcanoes and de- nied the myths concerning Enceladus being imprisoned un- der Mount Aetna and the battle of the gods and giants.'^ And in the case of the earthquake the people had already accepted it as a portent and were praying in terror, when 'V, 37- 'VI, 38. 'V, 2,7. eTTT ,. •Ill, 34. ' ^^' Mil, 7,7. ^V. 17. VIII APOLLONIUS OF TYANA 255 Apollonius took the opportunity to warn them to cease from their civil factions. As a matter of fact, both Apollonius and Philostratus appear to regard portents as an extraordi- nary sort of natural phenomena. A knowledge of natural science helps in recognizing them and in interpreting them. When a lioness of enormous size with eight whelps in her is slain by hunters, Apollonius at once recognizes the event as portentous because as a rule lionesses have whelps only thrice and only three of them on the first occasion, two in the second litter, and finally but a single whelp, "but I be- lieve a very big one and preternaturally fierce." ^ Here Apollonius is not in strict agreement with Pliny and Aris- totle ^ who say that the lioness produces five whelps at the first birth and one less every succeeding year. The scepticism of Apollonius concerning the Aetna Cases of myth is not an isolated instance. At Sardis he ridiculed the scepticism notion that trees could be older than earth,^ and he was one of the few ancients to question the swan's song.* He de- nied "the silly story that the young of vipers are brought into the world without mothers" as "consistent neither with na- ture nor experience," ^ and also the tale that the whelps of the lioness claw their way out into the world.® In India Apollonius saw a wild ass or unicorn from whose single horn a magic drinking horn was made.' A draught from this horn was supposed to protect one for that day from dis- ease, wounds, fire, or poison, and on that account the king *I, 22. sonitum rauci per stagna loquacia ' NH, VIII, 17; Hist. Anim., cygni. This concrete explanation VI, 31. is quite inadequate; it is beyond ^VI, 37. a doubt that the swan's song (Hke *The ancient authorities, pro the halcyon's) veiled, and still and con, will be found listed in hides, some mystical allusion." D. W. Thompson, Glossary of * II, 14. Greek Birds, 106-107. He adds: "I, 22. Pliny, NH, VIII, 17, "Modern naturalists accept the repeats a slightly different popular story of the singing swans, assert- notion that the lioness tears her ing that though the common swan womb with her claws and so can cannot sing, yet the Whooper or bear but once ; against this view whistling swan does so. It is cer- he cites Aristotle's statement that tain that the Whooper sings, for the lioness bears five times, as many ornithologists state the fact, described above, but I do not think that it can sing ' III, 2. very well ; at the very best, dant of animals. 256 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. alone was permitted to hunt the animal and to drink from the horn. When Damis asked Apollonius if he credited this story, the sage ironically replied that he would believe it if he found the king of the country to be immortal. Either, however, the scepticism of Apollonius, as was the case with so many other ancients and medieval men, was sporadic and inconsistent, or it came to be overlaid with the credulity of Damis and Philostratus, as the following ex- ample suggests. larchas told Damis and Apollonius flatly that the races described by Scylax of men with long heads or huge feet with which they were said to shade themselves did not exist in India or anywhere else; yet in a later book Philostratus states that the shadow- footed people are a tribe in Ethiopia.^ Anecdotes At any rate the marvels of India are more frequently credited than criticized in the Life by Philostratus, and the same holds true of the extraordinary conduct and well-nigh human intelligence attributed to animals. Especially delight- ful reading are six chapters on the remarkable sagacity of elephants and their love for mankind.^ On this point, as by Pliny, use is made of the work of Juba. We read again of sick lions eating apes, of the lioness's love affair with the panther, of the fondness of leopards for the fragrant gum of a certain tree and of goats for the cinnamon tree ; of apes who are made to collect pepper for men by appealing to their instinct towards mimicry ; ^ and of the tiger, whose loins alone are eaten by the Indians. "For they decline to eat the other parts of this animal, because they say that as soon as it is born it lifts up its front paws to the rising sun." * In the river Hyphasis is a creature like a white worm which yields when melted down a fat or oil that once set afire can- not be extinguished and which the king uses to burn walls 'III, 47; VI, 25. Scylax was a sius, Periplus Scylacis Caryan- Persian admiral under Darius densis, 1639), but some date it as who traveled to India and wrote early as the fourth century B.C. an account of his voyages. The ^11, 11-16. work extant under his name is of * II, 2; III, 4. doubtful authorship (Isaac Vos- * II, 28. viii APOLLONIUS OF TYANA 257 and capture cities.^ In India are griffins who quarry gold with their powerful beaks, and the luminous phoenix with its nest of spices and swan-like funeral song.^ Especially remarkable are the snakes or dragons with Dragons which all India is filled and which often are of enormous ° " *^ size, thirty or even seventy cubits long.^ Those found in the marshes are sluggish and have no crests ; but those on the hills and ridges move faster than the swiftest rivers and have both beards and crests.* Those in the plain engage in combats with elephants which terminate fatally for both parties as we have already learned from Pliny.^ The moun- tain dragons have bushy beards, fiery crests, golden scales, and a ferocious glance.® They burrow into the earth, mak- ing a noise like clashing brass, or go hissing down to the shore and swim far out to sea. Terrifying as they are, the Indians charm them by showing them golden characters em- broidered on a cloak of scarlet and by incantations of a se- cret wisdom. They eat the dragon's heart and liver in order to be able to understand the language and thoughts of ani- mals.''^ The dragons, however, are prized more for the precious Occult stones in their heads, which the Indians quickly cut off as virtues of . ^ , ■' gems, soon as they have bewitched them. The pupils of the eyes ,,, of the hill dragons are a fiery stone possessing irresistible virtue for many occult purposes,^ while in the heads of the mountain dragons are many brilliant stones of flashing colors which exert occult virtue if set in a ring, "and they say that Gyges had such a ring." ^ But there are many mar- velous stones outside the heads of dragons. "Who does not know the habits of birds," says Apollonius to Damis in one of his disquisitions upon natural phenomena,^" "and that eagles and storks will not build their nests without placing in them, the one the stone aetites, and the other the lychnites. "■III, I. Greek fire? "Ill, a *III, 48-9. 'III, 9. mi, 6; II, 17. *in, 7. Mil, 7. 'Ill, 8. = NH, VIII, II. "11, 14. 258 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. as aids in hatching and to drive snakes away?'' On parting from the Indian king Phraotes, Apollonius as usual refused to accept money presents but picked up one of the gems that were offered him with the exclamation, "O rare stone, how opportunely and providentially have I found you !" ^ Phi- lostratus supposes that he detected some occult and divine power in this particular stone. The Brahmans had gems so huge that from one of them a goblet could be carved large enough to slake the thirst of four men in midsummer, but in this case nothing is said of occult virtue.^ The Brahman larchas felt sure that he was the reincarnation of the hero Ganges, son of the river Ganges, because as a mere child he knew where to dig for the seven swords of adamant which Ganges had fixed in the earth. ^ Presumably these were magic swords and their virtue in part due to the stone ada- mant of which they were made. Less is said in the Life of the virtues of herbs than of gems, but the Indians made a nup- tial ointment or love-charm from balm distilled from trees,^ and drugs and poisons are mentioned more than once, man- dragora being described as a soporific drug rather than a deadly poison.^ Absence Considering that Apollonius was a Pythagorean, there is of number surprisingly little said concerning perfect numbers and their mystic significance. Aside from the seven rings and seven swords already mentioned, about the only instance is the question asked by Apollonius whether eighteen, the number of the Brahman sages at the time of his visit, had any espe- cial importance.^ He remarked that eighteen was not a square, nor a number usually held in esteem and honor like ten, twelve, and sixteen. The Brahmans agreed that there was no particular significance in eighteen, and further in- formed him that they maintained no fixed number of mem- bers but had varied from only one to as many as seventy according to the available supply of worthy men, ^11, 40. 'in, I. "111,27. » VIII, 7. '111,21. "111,30. VIII APOLLONIUS OF TYANA 259 If Philostratus denies that Apollonius was a magician, Mantike he does depict him as endowed with prophetic gifts, with art*of power over demons, and with "secret wisdom." He rather divination, likes to give the impression that the sage foretold things by innate prophetic gift or divine inspiration, but even navTLKT] or the art of divination is not condemned as yorjTela or witchcraft was. larchas the Brahman says that those who delight in mantike become divine thereby and contribute to the safety of mankind.^ Apollonius himself, when condemn- ing wizards as pseudo-wise, made the reservation that man- tike, if true in its predictions, was not a pseudo-science, al- though he professed ignorance whether it could be called an art or not.^ He denied that he practiced it, when he was ex- amined by Tigellinus, the favorite of Nero, who was perse- cuting philosophers on the ground that they were addicted to mantike.^ His accusers before Domitian again adduced his alleged practice of divination as evidence that he was a wizard.^ If Apollonius practiced neither wizardry nor mantike. Divining the question arises how he was able to foretell the future, of^pol- In his trial before Domitian he did not attempt to deny that lon»us. he had predicted the plague at Ephesus, but attributed his "sense of the coming disaster" to his abstemious diet, which kept his senses clear and enabled him to see as in an un- clouded mirror "all that is happening or about to occur." ^ For he was credited with knowledge of distant events the moment they occurred as well as with foreknowledge of the future. Thus at Ephesus he was aware of the assassination of Domitian at Rome ; and at Tarsus, although he arrived af- ter the incident had occurred, he was able to describe and to find the mad dog by whom a boy had been bitten.^ larchas told Apollonius that health and purity were requisite for * III, 42. porary of Philostratus, also states "VIII, 7. that Apollonius announced the ' IV, 44. assassination of Domitian and *VIII, 7. even named the assassin in Ephe- 'VIII, 7. sus on the very day that the event *_VIII, 26; VI, 43. The his- occurred at Rome. His account torian, Dio Cassius, a contem- differs too much from that by 26o MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Dreams. Interpreta- tion of omens. divination; ^ and Apollonius in turn, in recounting his life story to the naked sages of Egypt, represented the Pythago- rean philosophy as appearing before him and promising, "And when you are pure, I will grant you the faculty of foreknowledge." ^ Apollonius often was warned by dreams. When he dreamt of fish who were cast gasping upon dry land and who appealed for succour to a dolphin swimming by, he knew that he ought to visit and restore the graves and assist the descendants of the Eretrians whom Darius had taken captive to the Persian kingdom over five centuries before.^ Another dream he interpreted as a command to visit Crete.* In defending his linen apparel before Domitian he declared, "It is a pure substance under which to sleep at night, for to those who live as I do dreams bring the truest of their reve- lations." ^ He was not the only dreamer of the time, how- ever, and when some of his followers were afraid to accom- pany him to Rome in Nero's reign, they made warning dreams their excuse for deserting him.^ It has been seen that Apollonius not only had prophetic dreams but was skilful in interpreting them. He was equally adept in explaining the meaning of omens. The dead lion with her eight unborn whelps he took as a sign that Damis and he would remain a year and eight months in that land.' When Damis objected that Homer interpreted the sparrow and her eight nestlings whom the snake devoured as nine years' duration of the Trojan war, Apollonius retorted that the birds had been hatched but that the whelps, being yet unborn, could not signify complete years. On another occa- sion he interpreted the birth of a three-headed child as a sign of the year of the three emperors.^ Philostratus to have been copied 'VI, ii. from it. He concludes it with * I, 23. the positive assertion, "This is * IV, 34. really what took place, though 'VIII, 7. there should be ten thousand " IV, 37. doubters." (LXVII, 18.) 'I, 22. 'Ill, 42. "V, 13. VIII APOLLONIUS OF TYANA 261 Such interpretation of dreams and omens suggests an Animals lation. art or arts of divination rather than foreknowledge by di- ^^^mc rect divine inspiration. So does the passage in which Apol- lonius informs Domitian, when accused before him of having divined the future by sacrificing a boy, that human entrails are inferior to those of animals for purposes of divination, since the beasts are less perturbed by knowledge of their approaching death. ^ Apollonius himself would not sacrifice even animal victims, but he enlarged his powers of divina- tion during his sojourn among the Arab tribes by learning to understand the language of animals and to listen to the birds as these predict the future.^ The Arabs acquire this power by eating, some say the heart, others the liver, of dragons, — a fact which gave the church historian Eusebius an opportunity to charge Apollonius with having broken his taboo of animal flesh. Although he did not sacrifice animals and divine from Divination their entrails, Apollonius appears to have employed prac- ^ tices akin to those of the art of pyromancy when he threw a handful of frankincense into the sacrificial fire with a prayer to the sun, "and watched to see how the smoke of it curled upwards, and how it grew turbid, and in how many points it shot up; and in a manner he caught the meaning of the fire, and observed how it appeared of good omen and pure." ^ Again he visited an Egyptian temple and sacrificed an image of a bull made of frankincense and told the priest that if he really understood the science of divination by fire (kfiirvpov ao(j)ias), he would see many things revealed in the circle of the rising sun.'* It should be added that only a very ardent admirer of Other Apollonius or an equally ardent seeker after prophecies so-called would see anything prophetic in some of the apparently tions. chance remarks of the sage which have been perverted into predictions. At Ephesus he did not actually predict the plague, which had already begun to spread judging from the 'VIII, 7. "I, 31. 'I, 20. "V, 25. ■ 262 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. account of Philostratus, but rather warned the heedless pop- ulation to take measures to prevent its becoming general.^ When visiting the isthmus of Corinth he began to say that it w^ould be cut through, an idea which had doubtless oc- curred again and again to many ; but then said that it would not be cut through.^ This sane, if somewhat vacillating, state of mind received confirmation soon afterwards when Nero attempted an Isthmian canal but left it uncompleted. Another similarly ambiguous utterance was elicited from Apollonius by an eclipse of the sun accompanied by thunder : "There shall be some great event and there shall not be." ^ This was believed to receive miraculous fulfillment three days later when a thunderbolt dashed the cup out of which Nero was drinking from his hands but left him unharmed. Once Apollonius saved his life by changing from a ship which sank soon afterwards to another vessel.* An instance of more specific prophecy is the case of the consul Aelian, who testified that when he was but a tribune under Vespa- sian, Apollonius took him aside and told him his name and country and parentage, "and you foretold to me that I should hold this high office which is accounted by the multi- tude the highest of all." ^ But Aelian may have exagger- ated the accuracy of Apollonius's prediction, or the latter may have made a shrewd guess that Aelian was likely to rise to high office. Apollonius The divining faculty of Apollonius enabled him to de- and the ^^^^ ^^le presence and influence of demons, phantoms, and goblins, whose ways he understood as well as the language of the birds. At Ephesus he detected the true cause of the plague in a ragged old beggar whom he ordered the people to stone to death. ^ At this command the blinking eyes of the aged mendicant suddenly shot forth malevolent and fiery gleams and revealed his demon character. Afterwards, when the people removed the stones, they found underneath, pounded to a pulp, an enormous hound still vomiting foam 'IV, 4. "V, 18. MV, 24. 'VII, 18. 'IV, 43. 'IV, 10. VIII APOLLONIUS OF TYANA 263 as mad dogs do. Later, when accused of magic before Domitian, Apollonius requested that the emperor question him in private about the causes of this pestilence at Ephesus, which he said were too deep to be discussed pubHcly.^ And earher in the reign of Nero, when asked by TigelHnus how he got the better of demons and phantasms, he evaded the question by a saucy retort.^ On one. occasion, however, we are told that he got rid of a ghostly apparition by heaping abuse upon it ; ^ and a satyr, who remained invisible but cre- ated annoyance by running amuck through the camp, he dis- posed of by the expedient of filling a trough with wine and letting the spirit get drunk on it. When the wine had all dis- appeared, Apollonius led his companions to the cave of the nymphs where the satyr was now visible in a drunken sleep.* He also reformed the character of a licentious youth by ex- pelling a demon from him,^ and at Corinth exposed a lamia who, under the disguise of a dainty and wealthy lady, was fattening up a beautiful youth named Menippus with the intention of eventually devouring his blood.^ On his return by sea from India Apollonius passed a sacred island where lived a sea nymph or female demon who was as destructive to mariners as Scylla or the Sirens were of old. But the word "demon" is not always employed by Phi- Not all lostratus in the sense of an evil spirit. The annunciation ot ^re evil the birth of Apollonius was made to his mother by Proteus in the form of an Egyptian demon."^ Damis looked upon Apollonius himself as a demon and worshiped him as such, when he heard him say that he comprehended not only all human languages but also those things concerning which men maintain silence.^ In a letter to Euphrates ^ Apollonius affirms that the all-wise Pythagoras should be classed among demons. But when Domitian, on first meeting Apollonius *VIII, 7. "IV, 25. •n, 4. ^' 4- * VI, 27. * I, 19- "IV, 20. "Epist. 50. 264 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Philo- stratus's faith in demons. The ghost of Achilles. Healing the sick and rais- ing the dead. said that he looked like a demon, the sage replied that the emperor was confusing demons and human beings.-^ Philostratus adds his own bit of personal testimony to the existence of demons, although it cannot be said to be very convincing. After telling the satyr story he warns his readers not to be incredulous as to the existence of satyrs or to doubt that they make love. For they should not mistrust what is supported by experience and by Philostratus's own word. For he knew in Lemnos a youth of his own age whose mother was said to be visited by a satyr, and such he probably was, since he wore a fawn skin tied around his neck by the two front paws.^ Apollonius had an interview with the ghost of Achilles which strongly suggests necromancy. He sent his compan- ions on board ship and passed the night alone at the hero's tomb. Nor did he allude to what had happened until ques- tioned by the curious Damis. He then averred that his method of invoking the dead had not been that of Odysseus, but that he had prayed to Achilles much as the Indians do to their heroes. A slight earthquake then occurred and Achilles appeared. At first he was five cubits tall but grad- ually increased to some twelve cubits in height. At cock- crow he vanished in a flash of summer lightning.^ Apollonius, as well as the Brahmans, wrought some cures. One was of a boy who had been bitten by a mad dog and consequently "behaved exactly like a dog, for he barked and howled and went on all fours." * Apollonius first found and quieted the dog, and then made it lick the wound, a homeopathic treatment which cured the boy. It now only remained to cure the dog, too, and this the philoso- pher effected by praying to the river which was near by and then making the dog swim across it. "For," concludes Phi- lostratus, "a drink of water will cure a mad dog if he only can be induced to take it." The modern reader will suspect that the dog was not mad to begin with and that Apollonius 'VII, 32. "VI, 27. MV, II, 1S-16. *VI, 43. VIII APOLLONIUS OF TYANA 265 cleverly cured the boy's complaint by the same force that had induced it — suggestion. Apollonius once revived a maiden who was being borne to the grave by touching her and saying something to her, but Philostratus honestly ad- mits that he is not sure whether he restored her to life or detected signs of life in the body which had escaped the notice of everyone else.^ When Apollonius was brought before Tigellinus, the Other scroll on which the charges against him had been written was ^^^"^^ ^' found to have become quite blank when Tigellinus unrolled it.^ Upon that occasion and again before Domitian he in- timated that his body could not be bound or slain against his will.^ The former contention he proved to the satisfac- tion of Damis, who visited him in prison, by suddenly re- moving his leg from the fetters and then inserting it again.* Damis regarded this exhibition as a divine miracle, since Apollonius performed it without magical ceremony or in- cantations. He is also represented as escaping from his bonds at about midnight when imprisoned later in life in Crete.^ Philostratus, too, implies that he vanished miracu- lously from the courtroom of Domitian and that he some- times passed from one place to another in an incredibly short time, and is somewhat doubtful whether he ever died. But we have seen that even on the testimony of Damis and Philostratus themselves many of the marvels and predic- tions of Apollonius were not "artless" but involved a knowl- edge of contemporary natural science and medicine, or of arts of divination, or the employment, in a way not unlike the procedure of magic, of forces and materials outside him- self, namely, the occult virtues of things in nature or incan- tations, rites, and ceremonies. So much for Apollonius and his magic, but the Life con- Golden tains some interesting allusions to the 1^7^ or wryneck, ^"(["the which throw light upon the use of that bird in Greek magic, »"»•«■• but which have seldom been noted and then not correctly * IV. 45. * VII, 38. ' IV, 44- • VIII, 30. •VIII, 8. 266 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. interpreted.-^ The wryneck was so much employed in Greek magic, as references to it from Pindar to Theocritus show, that the word iunx was sometimes used as a synonym or figurative expression for spells or charms in general. Phi- lostratus, too, employs it in this sense, representing the Gym- nosophists as accusing the Brahmans of "appealing to the crowd with varied enchantments (or iunges)."^ But in other passages he makes it clear that the wryneck is still em- ployed as a magic bird. Describing the royal palace at Babylon ^ he states that the Magi have hung four golden wrynecks, which they themselves attune and which they call the tongues of the gods, from the ceiling of the judgment hall to remind the king of divine judgment and not to set himself above mankind. Golden wrynecks were also sus- pended in the Pythian temple at Delphi, and in this connec- tion they are said to possess some of the virtue of the Sirens,^ or, as Mr. Cook translates it, "to echo the persuasive note of siren voices." These two passages seem to point clearly to the employment of mechanical metal birds which sang and moved as if by magic. The Greek mathematician Hero in his explanation of mechanical devices employed in temples tells how to make a bird turn itself about and whistle by turning a wheel. ^ Why Now this is precisely what the wryneck does in its "won- named derful way of writhing its head and neck" and emitting hiss- ing sounds. The bird's "unmistakable note" is "que, que, * The passages are not listed in birds. But the iunx is found as a Liddell and Scott, nor mentioned bird on several Greek vases of by Professor Bury in his note on the latest period ; see British "The tvy^ in Greek Magic," Museum Catalogue of Vases, vol. Journal of Hellenic Studies IV, figs. 94, 98, 342, 163, 331b; (1886), pp. 157-60. Hubert's magic wheels are also represented article on "Magia" in Daremberg- on the vases, but are not described Saglio cites only one passage and as iunges in the catalogue ; see seems to regard the iunx solely vol. IV, figs. 33 la, 272>, 385, 399f as a magic wheel. D'Arcy W. 409, 436, 450, 458, and vol. Ill, Thompson, A Glossary of Greek E 774, F 223, F 279. Birds, Oxford, 1895, also cites but ^ VI, 10; see also VIII, 7. one passage from Philostratus. ^ I, 25. A. B. Cook, Zeus, Cambridge, *VI, 11. 1914, I, 253-65, notes both main " Cited by Cook, Zeus, I, 266, passages but tries to interpret the who, however, fails to connect it iunges as solar wheels rather than with the iunx. lunxi VIII APOLLONIUS OF TYANA 267 que, repeated many times in succession, at first rapidly, but gradually slowing and in a continually falling key." ^ I would therefore suggest that as the English name for the bird is derived from its writhing its neck, so the Greek name comes from its cry, for "que" and the root 1^7, if repeated rapidly many times in succession, sound much alike. ^ The name, Apollonius, continued to be associated with ApoIIonius magic in the middle ages, when the Golden Flozvers of middle Apollonius, a work on the notory art or theurgy,^ is found ^ses. in the manuscripts. And we shall find Cecco d'Ascoli * in the early fourteenth century citing a "book of magic art" by Apollonius and also a treatise on spirits, De angelica fac- tione. In 1412 Amplonius listed in the catalogue of his manuscripts a "book of Apollonius the magician or philoso- pher which is called Elizinus." ^ Works on the causes and properties of things are also ascribed to Apollonius in medieval manuscripts,^ and a Balenus or Belenus to whom works on astrological images and seals are ascribed in the manuscripts ^ is perhaps a corruption for Apollonius.^ ^ Newton's Dictionary of Birds; Elizinus. a reference supplied me by the *BN 13951, 12th century, Liber kindness of my colleague, Pro- Apollonii de principalibus rerum fessor F. H. Herrick. causis. Vienna 3124, 15th century, ' Professor Bury's theory that fols. 57v-s8v, "Verba de pro- "the bird was called Xvy^ from prietatibus rerum quomodo virtus its call which sounded like icb unius frangitur per aliuni. Ada- ico; and it was used in lunar mas nee ferro nee igne domatur enchantments because it was sup- .../... cito medetur." posed to be calling on lo, the ' Royal 12-C-XVIII, Baleni de moon": and that "Ivyi, originally imaginibus ; Sloane 3826, fols. meant a moon-song independently loov-ioi, Beleemus de imaginibus; of the wryneck," which came to Sloane 3848, fols. 52-8, Liber be employed in magic moon- Balamini sapientis de sigillis worship on account of its cry, has planetarum, fols. 59-62, liber sapi- already been refuted by Pro- entis Baleym de ymaginibus sep- fessor Thompson, who pointed tern planetarum. But these forms out that "the bird does not cry might suggest Balaam. We also lw„ i2>- ^Ibid., I, 58. ^Ibid.. II, 36. 'Ibid., II, II. Cicero attacks past authority. IX ATTACKS UPON SUPERSTITION 271 cydes, that famous Pythagorean master, who predicted an earthquake when he saw that the water had disappeared from a well which usually was well filled, should be re- garded as a diviner rather than a physicist." ^ Tully carries the distinction a step further and asserts that the sick seek a doctor, not a soothsayer; that diviners cannot instruct us in astronomy; that no one consults them concerning philo- sophic problems or ethical questions ; that they can give us no light on the problems of the natural universe; and that they are of no service in logic, dialectic, or political science.^ An admirable declaration of independence of natural science and medicine and other arts and constructive forms of thought from the methods of divination ! But also one more easy to state in general terms of theory than to enforce in details of practice, as Pliny, Galen, and Ptolemy have already shown us. None the less it is indeed a noteworthy restriction of the field of divination when Cicero remarks to his brother, "For those things which can be perceived beforehand either by art or reason or experience or conjec- ture you regard as not the affair of diviners but of scien- tists." ^ But the question remains whether too large powers of prediction may not be claimed by "science." Cicero proceeds to attack the methods and assumptions of divination as neither reasonable nor scientific. Why, Unreason- he asks, did Calchas deduce from the devoured sparrows ^gfj^*'^ that the Trojan war would last ten years rather than ten weeks or ten months ? * He points out that the art is con- ducted in different places according to quite different rules of procedure, even to the extent that a favorable omen in one locality is a sinister warning elsewhere.^ He refuses to believe in any extraordinary bonds of sympathy between things which, in so far as our daily experience and our 'I, so. ''11,30. a Tj - . " II, 12. An astrologer, how- ' '^ ^' ever, would probably say that * II, 5. "Quae enim praesentiri seeming contradiction could be ac- aut arte aut ratione aut usu aut counted for by the varying influ- coniectura possunt, ea non divinis ence of the constellations upon tribuenda putas sed peritis." different regions. 2^2 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Requires violation of natural law. Cicero and astrology. knowledge of the workings of nature can inform us, have no causal connection. What intimate connection, he asks, what bond of natural causality can there be between the liver or heart or lung of a fat bull and the divine eternal cause of all which rules the universe?^ "That anything certain is signified by uncertain things, is not this the last thing a scientist should admit?" " He refuses to accept dreams as fit channels either of natural divination or divine revelation.^ The Sibylline Books, like most oracles, are vague and the evident product of labored ingenuity.* Moreover, divination asserts the existence of phenomena which science denies. Such a figment, Cicero scornfully affirms, as that the heart will vanish from the carcass of a victim is not believed even by old-wives now-a-days. How can the heart vanish from the body? Surely it must be there as long as life lasts, and how can it disappear in an instant? "Believe me, you are abandoning the citadel of phi- losophy while you defend its outposts. For in your effort to prove soothsaying true you utterly pervert physiology. . . . For there will be something which either springs from nothing or suddenly vanishes into nothingness. What scien- tist ever said that? The soothsayers say so? Are they then, do you think, to be trusted rather than scientists?"*^ Cicero makes other arguments against divination such as the stock contentions that it is useless to know prede- termined events beforehand since they cannot be avoided, and that even if we can learn the future, we shall be happier not to do it, but his outstanding argument is that it is un- scientific. Cicero's attack upon divination is mainly directed against liver divination and analogous methods of predict- ing the future, but he devotes a few chapters ^ to the doc- trines of the Chaldeans. They postulate a certain force in the constellations called the zodiac and hold that between *II, 12. 'II, 60-71. ^11, 19. "Quid igitur minus a ^11, 54. physicis dici debet quam quidquam 'II, 16. certi significari rebus incertis ?" " II, 42-47. IX ATTACKS UPON SUPERSTITION 273 man and the position of the stars and planets at the moment of his birth there exists a relation of sympathy so that his personality and all the events of his life are thereby deter- mined. Diogenes the Stoic limited this influence to the determination of one's aptitude and vocation, but Cicero regards even this much as going too far. The immense spaces intervening between the different planets seem to him a reason for rejecting the contentions of the Chaldeans. His further criticism that they insist that all men born at the same moment are alike in character regardless of hori- zons and different aspects of the sky in different places is one that at least did not hold good permanently against astrology and is not true of Ptolemy. He asks if all the men who perished at Cannae were born beneath the same star and how it came about that there was only one Homer if several men are born every instant. He also adduces the stock argument from twins. He attacks the practice, which we shall find continued in the middle ages, of astro- logical prediction of the fate of cities. He says that if all animals are to be subjected to the stars, then inanimate things must be, too, than which nothing can be more absurd. This suggests that he hardly conceives of the fundamental hypothesis of medieval science that all inferior nature is under the influence of the celestial bodies and their motion and light. At any rate his arguments are directed against the casting of horoscopes or genethlialogy. And in the matter of the influence of the planets upon man he was not entirely antagonistic, at least in other writings than the De divinatione, for in the Dream of Scipio he speaks of Jupiter as a star wholesome and favorable to the human race, of Mars as most unfavorable. He further calls seven and eight perfect numbers and speaks of their product, fifty-six, as signifying the fatal year in Scipio's life. Incidentally, as another instance that Cicero was not always sceptical, it may be recalled that it was in Cicero that Pliny read of a man who could see one hundred and thirty-five miles. -^ ^NH, VII, 21. 274 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. His crude historical criticism. Favorinus against as- trologers. Such apparent inconsistency is perhaps a sign of some- what indiscriminating eclecticism on Cicero's part. We ex- perience something of a shock, although perhaps we should not be surprised, to find him in his Republic ^ arguing as seriously in favor of the ascension or apotheosis of Romulus as a historic fact as a professor of natural science in a denominational college might argue in favor of the his- toricity of the resurrection of Christ. Although in the De divinatione he impatiently brushed aside the testimony of so great a cloud of witnesses and of most philosophers in favor of divination, he now argues that the opinion that Romulus had become a god "could not have prevailed so universally unless there had been some extraordinary manifestation of power," and that "this is the more remarkable because other men, said to have become gods, lived in less learned times when the mind was prone to invent and the inexperienced were easily led to believe," whereas Romulus lived only six centuries ago when literature and learning had already made great progress in removing error, when "Greece was already full of poets and musicians, and little faith was placed in legends unless they concerned remote antiquity." Yet a few chapters later Cicero notes that Numa could not have been a pupil of Pythagoras, since the latter did not come to Italy until 140 years after his death; ^ and in a third chap- ter ^ when Laelius remarks, "That king is indeed praised but Roman History is obscure, for although we know the mother of this king, we are ignorant of his father," Scipio replies, "That is so ; but in those times it was almost enough if only the names of the kings were recorded." We can only add, "Consistency, thou art a jewel 1" Favorinus denied that the doctrine of nativities was the work of the Chaldeans and regarded it as the more recent invention of marvel-mongers, tricksters, and mountebanks. He regards the inference from the effect of the moon on tides to that of the stars on every incident of our daily life ^Republic, II, 10. 'Ibid.. II, 15. 'Ibid., II, 18. IX ATTACKS UPON SUPERSTITION 275 as unwarranted. He further objects that if the Chaldeans did record astronomical observations these would apply only to their own region and that observations extended over a vast lapse of time would be necessary to establish any system of astrology, since it requires ages before the stars return to their previous positions. Like Cicero, Favorinus prob- ably manifests his ignorance of the technique of astrology in complaining that astrologers do not allow for the differ- ent influence of different constellations in different parts of the earth. More cogent is his suggestion that there may be other stars equal in power to the planets which men cannot see either for their excess of splendor or because of their position. He also objects that the position of the stars is not the same at the time of conception and the time of birth, and that, if the different fate of twins may be explained by the fact that after all they are not born at precisely the same moment, the time of birth and the position of the stars must be measured with an exactness practically impossible. He also contends that it is not for human beings to predict the future and that the subjection of man not merely in matters of external fortune but in his own acts of will to the stars is not to be borne. These two arguments of the divine pre- rogative and of human free will became Christian favorites. He complains that the astrologers predict great events like battles but cannot predict small ones, and declares that they may congratulate themselves that he does not propose such a question to them as that of astral influence on minute ani- mals. This and his further question why, out of all the grand works of nature, the astrologers limit their attention to petty human fortune, suggest that like Cicero he did not realize that astrology was or would become a theory of all nature and not mere genethlialogy. To the arguments against nativities that men die the Sextus same death who were not born at the same time and that Empincus. men who are born at the same time are not identical in character or fortune Sextus Empiricus adds the derisive question whether a man and an ass born in the same instant 276 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Lucius or The Ass: is it by Lucian ? would suffer exactly the same destiny. Ptolemy would of course reply that while the influence of the stars is constant in both cases it is variably received by men and donkeys; and Sextus's query does not show him very well versed in astrology. He mentions the obstacle of free will to astro- logical theory but does not make very much of it. The chief point which he makes is that even if the stars do rule human destiny, their effect cannot be accurately measured. He lays stress on the difficulty of exactly determining the date of birth or of conception, or the precise moment when a star passes into a new sign of the zodiac. He notes the variability and unreliability of water-clocks. He calls atten- tion to the fact that observers at varying altitudes as well as in different localities would arrive at different conclu- sions. Differences in eyesight would also affect results, and it is difficult to tell just when the sun sets or any sign of the zodiac drops below the horizon owing to reflection and refraction of rays. Sextus thus leaves us somewhat in doubt whether his objections are to be taken as indicative of a spirit of captious criticism towards an art, the fundamental principles of which he tacitly recognizes as well-nigh incon- testible, or whether he is simply trying to make his case doubly sure by showing astrology to be impracticable as well as unreasonable. In any case we shall find his argument that the influence of the stars cannot be measured accurately repeated by Christian writers. The main plot of the Metamorphoses of Apuleius ap- pears, shorn of the many additional stories, the religious mysticism, and the autobiographical element which charac- terize his narrative, in a brief and perhaps epitomized Greek version, entitled Lucius or The Ass, among the works of Lucian of Samosata, the contemporary of Apuleius and noted satirist. The work is now commonly regarded as spurious, since the style seems different from that of Lucian and the Attic Greek less pure. The narrative, too, is bare, at least compared with the exuberant fancy of Apuleius, and seems to avoid the marvelous and romantic details in which IX ATTACKS UPON SUPERSTITION 277 he abounds. Photius, patriarch of Constantinople in the ninth century, who regarded the work as Lucian's, said that he wrote in it as one deriding the extravagance of super- stition. Whether this be true of The Ass or not, it is true of other satires by Lucian of undisputed genuineness, in which he ridicules the impostures of the magic and pseudo- science of his day. In place of the genial humor and fantas- tic imagination with which his African contemporary credu- lously welcomed the magic and occult science of his time, the Syrian satirist probes the same with the cool mockery of his keen and sceptical wit. Lucian was born at Samosata near Antioch about 120 or Career of 125 A. D. and after an unsuccessful beginning as a sculptor's apprentice turned to literature and philosophy. He prac- ticed in the law courts at Antioch for some time and also wrote speeches for others. For a considerable period of his life he roamed about the Mediterranean world from Paphla gonia to Gaul as a rhetorician, and like Apuleius resided both at Athens and Rome. After forty he ceased teaching rhetoric and devoted himself to literary production, living at Athens. Towards the close of his life, "when he already had one foot in Charon's boat," ^ he was holding a well paid and important legal position in Egypt. His death occurred perhaps about 200 A. D. Some ascribe it to gout, probably because he wrote two satires on that disease. Suidas states that Lucian was torn to pieces by dogs as a punishment for his attacks upon Christianity, which again is probably a perversion of Lucian's own statement in Peregrinus that he narrowly escaped being torn to pieces by the Cynics. It was at the request of that same adversary of Chris- Alexander tianity against whom Origen composed the Reply to Ceisus 'A'^j^j^. that Lucian wrote his account of the impostor, Alexander prophet. of Abonutichus, a pseudo-prophet of Paphlagonia. This Alexander pretended to discover the god Asclepius in th« form of a small viper which he had sealed up in a goose tgg. '^Apologia pro mercede conduc- H. W. Fowler and F. G. Fowler, tis. Most of Lucian's Essays have 1905, 4 vols, been translated into English by 278 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. He then replaced the tiny viper by a huge tame serpent which he had purchased at Pella in Macedon and which was trained to hide its head in Alexander's armpit, while to the crowd, who were also permitted to touch the tail and body of the real snake, was shown a false serpent's head made of linen with human features and a mouth that opened and shut and a tongue that could be made to dart in and out. Having thus convinced the people that the viper had really been a god and had miraculously increased in size, Alexander proceeded to sell oracular responses as from the god. Inquirers sub- mitted their questions in sealed packages which were later returned to them with appropriate answers and with the seals unbroken and apparently untouched. Similarly Plutarch tells of a sceptical opponent of oracles who became converted into their ardent supporter by receiving such an answer to a sealed letter.^ Lucian, however, explains that Alexander sometimes used a hot needle to melt the seal and then restore it to practically its original shape, or employed other methods by which he took exact impressions of the seal, then boldly broke it, read the question, and afterwards replaced the seal by an exact replica of the original made in the mould. Lucian adds that there are plenty of other devices of this sort which he does not need to repeat to Celsus who has already made a sufficient collection of them in his "excellent treatises against the magicians." Lucian tells later, how- ever, how Alexander made his god seem to speak by attach- ing a tube made of the windpipes of cranes to the artificial head and having an assistant outside speak through this concealed tube. In our later discussion of the church father Hippolytus we shall find that he apparently made use of this expose of magic by Lucian as well as of the arguments of Sextus Empiricus against astrology. Lucian's personal ex- periences with this Alexander were quite interesting but are less germane to our investigation. ^ De defectu oraculorum, 45. IX ATTACKS UPON SUPERSTITION 279 We must not fail, however, to note another essay, Philo- Magicai pseudes or Apiston, in which the superstition and pseudo- fn^medr-^^ science of antiquity are sharply satirized in what purports cine to be a conversation of several philosophers, including a Stoic, a Peripatetic, and a Platonist, and a representative of ancient medicine in the person of Antigonus, a doctor. Some of the magical procedure then employed in curing diseases is first satirized. Cleodemus the Peripatetic advises as a remedy for gout to take in the left hand the tooth of a field mouse which has been killed in a prescribed manner, to wrap it in the skin of a lion freshly-flayed, and thus to bind it about the ailing foot. He affirms that it will give instant relief. Dinomachus the Stoic admits that the occult virtue of the lion is very great and that its fat or right fore-paw or the bristles of its beard, if combined with the proper incantations, have wonderful efficacy. But he holds that for the cure of gout the skin of a virgin hind would be superior on the ground that the hind is speedier than the lion and so more beneficial to the feet. Cleodemus retorts that he used to think the same, but that a Libyan has convinced him that the lion can run faster than the hind or it would never catch one. The sceptical reporter of this conversation states that he vainly attempted to convince them that an internal disease could not be cured by external attachments or by incanta- tions, methods which he regards as the veriest sorcery (goefia). His protests, however, merely lead Ion the Platonist to Snake; recount how a Magus, a Chaldean of Babylonia, cured his '^ ^^^^S- father's gardener who had been stung by an adder on the great toe and was already all swollen up and nearly dead. The magician's method was to apply a splinter of stone from the statue of a virgin to the toe, uttering at the same time an incantation. He then led the way to the field where the gardener had been stung; pronounced seven sacred names from an ancient volume, and fumigated the place thrice with torches and sulphur. All the snakes in the field then came forth from their holes with the exception of one very aged 2S0 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. A Hyper- borean magician. Some ghost stories. Pancrates, the magician. and decrepit serpent, whom the magician sent a young snake back to fetch. Having thus assembled every last serpent, he blew upon them, and they all vanished into thin air. This tale reminds the Stoic of another magician, a bar- barian and Hyperborean, who could walk through fire or upon water and even fly through the air. He could also "make people fall in love, call up spirits, resuscitate corpses, bring down the moon, and show you Hecate herself as large as life." ^ More specific illustration of the exercise of these powers is given in an account of a love spell which he per- formed for a young man for a big fee. Digging a trench, he raised the ghost of the youth's father and also summoned Hecate, Cerberus, and the Moon. The last named appeared in three successive forms of a woman, an ox, and a puppy. The sorcerer then constructed a clay image of the god of love and sent it to fetch the girl, who came and stayed until cock-crow, when all the apparitions vanished with her. In vain the sceptic argues that the girl in question would have come willingly enough without any magic. The Platonist matches the previous story with one of a Syrian from Pales- tine who cast out demons. The discussion then further degenerates into ghost stories and tales of statuettes that leave their pedestals after the household has retired for the night. One speaker says that he no longer has any fear of ghosts since an Arab gave him a magic ring made of nails from crosses and taught him an incantation to use against spooks. At this juncture a Pythagorean philosopher of great repute enters and adds his testimony in the form of an account of how he laid a ghost at Corinth by employing an Egyptian incantation. Eucrates, the host, then tells of Pancrates, whom he had met in Egypt and who "had spent twenty-three years under- ground learning magic from Isis," and whom crocodiles would allow to ride on their backs. They traveled a time together without a servant, since Pancrates was able to dress up the door-bar or a broom or pestle, turn it into human ^ Fowler's translation. IX ATTACKS UPON SUPERSTITION 281 form, and make it wait upon them. There follows the familiar story of Eucrates' overhearing the incantation of three syllables which Pancrates employed and of trying it out himself when the magician was absent. The pestle turned into human form all right enough and obeyed his order to bring in water, but then he discovered that he could not make it stop, and when he seized an axe and chopped it in two, the only effect was to produce two water-carriers in place of one. The conversation is turning to the subject of oracles Credulity when the sceptic can stand it no longer and retires in dis- scepticism, gust. As he tells what he has heard to a friend, he remarks upon the childish credulity of "these admired teachers from whom our youth are to learn wisdom." At the same time, the stories seem to have made a considerable impression even upon him, and he wishes that he had some lethal drug to make him forget all these monsters, demons, and Hecates that he seems still to see before him. His friend, too, de- clares that he has filled him with demons. Their dialogue then concludes with the consoling reflection that truth and sound reason are the best drugs for the cure of such empty lies. The Menippus or Necromancy, while an obvious imita- Menippus, tion and parody of Odysseus' mode of descent to the under- world to consult Teiresias, also throws some light on the magic of Lucian's time. In order to reach the other world Menippus went to Babylon and consulted Mithrobarzanes, one of the Magi and followers of Zoroaster. He is also called one of the Chaldeans. Besides a final sacrifice similar to that of Odysseus, the procedure by which the magician procured their passage to the other world included on his part muttered incantations and invocations, for the most part unintelligible to Menippus, spitting thrice in the latter's face, waving torches about, drawing a magic circle, and wearing a magic robe. As for Menippus, he had to bathe in the Euphrates at sunrise every morning for the full twenty-nine days of a moon, after which he was purified tnancy. 282 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Astrologi- cal inter- pretation of Greek myth. at midnight in the Tigris and by fumigation. He had to sleep out-of-doors and observe a special diet, not look any- one in the eye on his way home, walk backwards, and so on. The ultimate result of all these preparations was that the earth was burst asunder by the final incantation and the way to the underworld laid open. When it came time to return Menippus crawled up with difficulty, like Dante going from the Inferno to Purgatory, through a narrow tunnel which opened on the shrine of Trophonius. An essay on astrology ascribed to Lucian is usually regarded as spurious.^ Denial of its authenticity, however, should rest on such grounds as its literary style and the manuscript history of the work rather than upon its — to modern eyes — superstitious character. In antiquity a man might be sceptical about most superstitions and yet believe in astrology as a science. Lucian's sceptical friend Celsus, for example, as we shall see in our chapter on Origen's Reply to Celsus, believed that the future could be foretold from the stars. And whether the present essay is genuine or spurious, it is certainly noteworthy that for all his mockery of other superstition Lucian does not attack astrology in any of his essays. Moreover, this essay on astrology is very sceptical in one way, since it denies the literal truth of vari- ous Greek myths and gives an astrological interpretation of them, as in the case of Zeus and Kronos and the so-called adultery of Mars. This is not inconsistent with Lucian's ridicule elsewhere of the anthropomorphic Olympian divini- ties. What Orpheus taught the Greeks was astrology, and the planets were signified by the seven strings of his lyre. Teiresias taught them further to distinguish which stars were masculine and which feminine in character and influence. A proper interpretation of the myth of Atreus and Thyestes also shows the Greeks at an early date acquainted with astro- logical doctrine. Bellerophon soared to the sky, not on a * Fowler omits it. It appears in the Teubner edition, Luciani Samosatensis opera, ed. C. Jaco- bitz, II (1887), 187-95, but both Jacobitz and Dindorf mark it as spurious. Croiset, Essai sur la vie et les oouvrcs de Lucien, Paris, 1882, p. 43, also rejects it. IX ATTACKS UPON SUPERSTITION 283 horse but by the scientific power of his mind. Daedalus taught Icarus astrology and the fable of Phaethon is to be similarly interpreted. Aeneas was not really the son of the goddess Venus, nor Minos of Jupiter, nor Aesculapius of Mars, nor Autolycus of Mercury. These are to be taken simply as the planets under whose rule they were born. The author also connects Egyptian animal worship with the signs of the zodiac. The author of the essay also delves into the history of History astrology, to which he assigns a high antiquity. The ^^^^^ ^'f Ethiopians were the first to cultivate it and handed it on in a astrology, still imperfect stage to the Egyptians who developed it. The Babylonians claim to have studied it before other peoples, but our author thinks that they did so long after the Ethi- opians and Egyptians. The Greeks were instructed in the art neither by the Ethiopians nor the Egyptians, but, as we have seen, by Orpheus. Our author not only states that the ancient Greeks never built towns or walls or got married without first resorting to divination, but even asserts that astrology was their sole method of divination, that the Pythia at Delphi was the type of celestial purity and that the snake under the tripod represented the dragon among the constellations, Lycurgus taught his Lacedaemonians to ob- serve the moon, and only the uncultured Arcadians held themselves aloof from astrology. Yet at the present day some oppose the art, declaring either that the stars have naught to do with human affairs or that astrology is useless since what is fated cannot be avoided. To the latter objec- tion our author makes the usual retort that forewarned is forearmed; as for the former denial, if a horse stirs the stones in the road as it runs, if a passing breath of wind moves straws to and fro, if a tiny flame burns the finger, will not the courses and deflexions of the brilliant celestial bodies have their influence upon earth and mankind? The manner of the essay does not seem like Lucian's Lucian not usual style, and the astrological interpretation of religious sceptical, myth was characteristic of the Stoic philosophy, whereas 2»4 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Lucian and medicine. Lucian's philosophical affinities, if he can be said to have any, are perhaps rather with the Epicureans. But Celsus was an Epicurean and yet believed in astrology. It must not be thought, however, that Lucian in his other essays is always sceptical in regard to what we should classify as superstition. He tells us how his career was determined by a dream in the autobiographical essay of that title. In the Dialogues of the Gods magic is mentioned as a matter-of- course, Zeus complaining that he has to resort to magic in order to win women and Athene warning Paris to have Aphrodite remove her girdle, since it is drugged or enchanted and may bewitch him. The writings of Lucian contain many allusions to the doctors, diseases, and medicines of his time.^ On the whole he confirms Galen's picture. Numerous passages show that the medical profession was held in high esteem, and Lucian himself first went to Rome in order to consult an oculist. At the same time Lucian satirizes the quacks and medical superstition of the time, as we have already seen, and describes several statues which were believed to possess heal- ing powers. In the burlesque tragedy on gout, Tragodopo- dagra, whose authenticity, however, is questioned, the dis- ease personified is triumphant, and the moral seems to be that all the remedies which men have tried are of no avail. On the other hand, Lucian wrote seriously of the African snake whose bite causes one to die of thirst {De dipsadibus). He admits that he has never seen anyone in this condition and has not even been in Libya where these snakes are found, but a friend has assured him that he has seen the tombstone epitaph of a man who had died thus, a rather indirect mode of proof which we are surprised should satisfy the author of How to Write History. Lucian also repeats the common notion that persons bitten by a mad dog can be cured only by a hair or other portion of the same animal.^ ^ See the interesting paper of J. Proceedings of the Royal Society D. Rolleston, "Lucian and Medi- of Medicine, VIII, 49-58, 72-84. cine," 1915, 23 pp., reprinted from * See the close of Nigrinus. IX ATTACKS UPON SUPERSTITION 285 Our chapter which set out to note cases of scepticism Inevitable in regard to superstition has ended by including a great gHng"of ' deal of such superstition. The sceptics themselves seem scepticism , T • . • 1 ^"^ super- credulous on some pomts, and Lucian s satire perhaps more stition. reveals than refutes the prevalence of superstition among even the highly educated. The same is true of other literary satirists of the Roman Empire whose jibes against the astrologers and their devotees only attest the popularity of the art and who themselves very probably meant only to ridicule its more extreme pretensions and were perhaps at bottom themselves believers in the fundamentals of the art. Our authors to some extent, as we have pointed out, pro- vided an arsenal of arguments from which later Christian writers took weapons for their assaults upon pagan magic and astrology. But sometimes subsequent writers confused scepticism with credulity, and the influence of our authors upon them became just the opposite of what they intended. Thus Ammianus Marcellinus, the soldier-historian of the falling Roman Empire upon whom Gibbon placed so much reliance, was so attached to divination that he even quoted its arch-opponent, Cicero, in support of it. For he actually concludes his discussion of the subject in these words : "Wherefore in this as in other matters Tully says most admirably, 'Signs of future events are shown by the gods.' " 1 But in order to conclude our chapter on scepticism with Lucian on a less obscurantist passage, let us return to Lucian. His J^jg^Q^y essay. How to Write History, gives serious expression to those ideals of truth and impartiality which also lie behind his mockery of impostors and the over-credulous. "The historian's one task," in his estimation, "is to tell the thing as it happened." He should be "fearless, incorruptible, in- dependent, a believer in frankness, ... an impartial judge, kind to all but too kind to none." "He has to make of his brain a mirror, unclouded, bright, and true of surface." "Facts are not to be collected at haphazard but with careful, ^ Rerum gestarum libri qui supersunt, XXI, i, 14. 286 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap, ix laborious, repeated investigation." "Prefer the disinterested account." ^ Such sentences and phrases as these reveal a scientific and critical spirit of high order and seem a vast improvement upon the frailty of Cicero's historical criticism. But how far Lucian would have been able to follow his own advice is perhaps another matter. ^The wording of these excerpts is that of Fowler's translation. CHAPTER X THE SPURIOUS MYSTIC WRITINGS OF HERMES, ORPHEUS, AND ZOROASTER Mystic works of revelation — The Hermetic books — Poimandres and the Hermetic Corpus — Astrological treatises ascribed to Hermes — Hermetic works of alchemy — Nechepso and Petosiris — Manetho — The Lithica of Orpheus — Argument of the poem — Magic powers of stones — Magic rites to gain powers of divination — Power of gems compared with herbs — Magic herbs and demons in Orphic rites — Books ascribed to Zoroaster — The Chaldean Oracles. There were in circulation in the Roman Empire many writ- Mystic ings which purported to be of divine origin and authorship, ^velation. or at least the work of ancient culture-heroes and founders of religions who were of divine descent and divinely in- spired. These oracular and mystic compositions usually pretend to great antiquity and often claim as their home such hoary lands as Egypt and Chaldea, although in the Hellenic past Apollo and in the Roman past the Sibylline books ^ also afford convenient centers about which forgeries cluster. Assuming as these writings do to disclose the secrets of ancient priesthoods and to publish what should not be revealed to the vulgar crowd, they may be confidently expected to embody a great deal of superstition and magic along with their expositions of mystic theologies. Also the authors, editors, or publishers of astrological, alchemistic, and other pseudo-scientific treatises could not be expected to resist the temptation of claiming a venerable and cryptic origin for some of their books. Moreover, such pseudo- literature was not entirely unjustified in its affirmation of high antiquity. Few things in intellectual history antedate magic, and these spurious compositions are not especially * See Sackur, Sibyllinische Texte und Forschiingen, Halle, 1898; Alex- andre, Oracida Sibyllina, 2nd ed., Paris, 1869; Charles (1913) H, 368 ff. 287 288 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. distinguished by new ideas, although they to some extent reflect the progress made in learning, occult as well as scien- tific, in the Hellenistic age. It must be added that much of their contents depends for its effect entirely upon its claim to eminent authorship and great antiquity and upon the im- pressionability of its public. To-day most of it seems trivial commonplace or marked by the empty vagueness characteristic of oracular utterances. I shall attempt no complete exposition or exhaustive treatment of such writ- ings ^ but touch upon a few examples which bear upon the relations of science and magic. The Chief among these are the Hermetic books or writings books. attributed to Hermes the Egyptian or Trismegistus. "Under this name," wrote Steinschneider in 1906, "there exists in many languages a literature, for the most part superstitious, which seems to have not yet been treated in its totality." ^ The Egyptian god Thoth or Tehuti, known in Greek as OioW, QccO, and Tar, was identified with Hermes, and the epithet "thrice-great" is also derived from the Egyptian aa aa, "the great Great." Citations of works ascribed to this Hermes Trismegistus can be traced back as early as the first century of our era.^ He is also mentioned or quoted by various church fathers from Athenagoras to Augustine and often figures in the magical papyri. The historian Ammi- anus Marcellinus ^ in the fourth century ranks him with the great sages of the past such as Pythagoras, Socrates, and Apollonius of Tyana. Our two chief descriptions of the Hermetic books from the period of the Roman Empire are found in the Stromata^ of the Christian Clement of Alex- andria (C.150-C.220 A.D.) and in the De mysteriis^ ascribed to the Neo-Platonist lamblichus (died about 330 * Besides the works to be cited ^Steinschneider (1906), 24. He later in this chapter, the reader mentions the dissertation of R. may consult : A. Dieterich, Ab- Pietschmann, Hermes Trismegis- raxas (Studien z. relig. gcsch. d. tus, Leipzig, 1875. .y/)af. a/^.), Leipzig, 1891, especially ^ See Galen, citing Pamphilus, chapter II (pp. I36ff.), "Jiidisch- Kuhn, XI, 798. orphisch-gnostiche Kulte und die * XXI, 14, 15. Zauberbiicher" ; and G. A. Lobeck, ' VI, 4. Aglaophanms, 1829, 2 vols. *I, IJ VIII, 1-4. X SPURIOUS MYSTIC WRITINGS 289 A. D.). Clement speaks of forty-two books by Hermes which are regarded as "indispensable." Of these ten are called "Hieratic" and deal with the laws, the gods, and the training of the priests. Ten others detail the sacrifices, prayers, processions, festivals, and other rites of Egyptian worship. Two contain hymns to the gods and rules for the king. Six are medical, "treating of the structure of the body and of diseases and instruments and medicines and about the eyes and the last about women." Four are astro- nomical or astrological, and the remaining ten deal with cosmography and geography or with the equipment of the priests and the paraphernalia of the sacred rites. Clement does not say so, but from his brief summary one can imagine how full these volumes probably were of occult virtues of natural substances, of magical procedure, and of intimate relations and interactions between nature, stars, and spirits. lamblichus repeats the statement of Seleucus that Hermes wrote twenty thousand volumes and the asser- tion of Manetho that there were 36,525 books, a number doubtless connected with the supposed length of the year, three hundred and sixty-five and one-quarter days.^ lamblichus adds that Hermes wrote one hundred treatises on the ethereal gods and one thousand concerning the celestial gods.^ He is aware, however, that most books attributed to Hermes were not really composed by him, since in other passages he speaks of "the books which are circulated under the name of Hermes," ^ and explains that "our ancestors . , . inscribed all their own writings with the name of Hermes," * thus dedicating them to him as the patron deity of language and theology. By the time of lamblichus these books had been translated from the Egyp- tian tongue into Greek. There has come down to us under the name of Hermes Poiman- a collection of seventeen or eighteen fragments which is hermetic ^ generally known as the Hermetic Corpus. Of the frag- Corpus. 'VIII, I. 'VIII, 4. "VIII, 2. n, I. 290 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. ments the first and chief is entitled Poimandres {HoLnavbp-qs), a name which is sometimes apphed to the entire Corpus. Another fragment entitled Asclepius, since it is in the form of a dialogue between him and "Mercurius Trismegis- tus," exists in a Latin form which has been ascribed probably incorrectly to Apuleius of Madaura as translator {Asclepius . . . Mercurii trismegisti dialogus Lucio Apuleio Madau- rensi philosopho Platonico interprete) . None of the Greek manuscripts of the Corpus seems older than the fourteenth century, although Reitzenstein thinks that they may all be derived from the version which Michael Psellus had before him in the eleventh century.^ But the concluding prayer of the Poimandres exists in a third century papyrus, and the alchemist Zosimus in the fourth century seems acquainted with the entire collection. The treatises in this Corpus are concerned primarily with religious philosophy or theosophy, with doctrines similar to those of Plato concerning the soul and to the teachings of the Gnostics, The moral and re- ligious instruction is associated, however, with a physics and cosmology very favorable to astrology and magic. Of magic in the narrow sense there is little in the Corpus, but a Hermetic fragment preserved by Stobaeus affirms that "philosophy and magic nourish the soul." Astrology plays a much more prominent part, and the stars are ranked as visible gods, of whom the sun is by far the greatest. All seven planets nevertheless control the changes in the world of nature; there are seven human types corresponding to them; and the twelve signs of the zodiac also govern the human body. Only the chosen few who possess gnosis or are capable of receiving nous can escape the decrees of fate as administered by the stars and ultimately return to the spiritual world, passing through "choruses of demons" and "courses of stars" and reaching the Ogdoad or eighth heaven above and beyond the spheres of the seven planets. ^ Such 'R. Reitzenstein, Poimatuires, ^Citations supporting this and Leipzig, 1904, p. 319. This work the preceding sentences may be is the fullest scientific treatment found in Kroll's article on of the subject. Hermes Trismegistus in Pauly- SPURIOUS MYSTIC WRITINGS 291 Gnostic cosmology and demonolog}% especially the location of demons amid the planetary spheres, provides favorable ground for the development of astrological necromancy. Not only is a belief in astrology implied throughout the Astro- Poimandres, but a number of separate astrological treatises treatises are extant in whole or part under the name of Hermes Tris- |jcnbed to megistus/ and he is frequently cited as an authority in other Greek astrological manuscripts.- The treatises attributed to him comprise one upon general method,^ one on the names and powers of the twelve .signs, one on astrological medicine addressed to Ammon the Egyptian,^ one on thunder and lightning, and some hexameters on the relation of earth- quakes to the signs of the zodiac. This last is also ascribed to Orpheus.^ There are various allusions to and versions of tracts concerning the relation of herbs to the planets or signs of the zodiac or thirty-six decans.® These treatises attribute magic virtues to plants, include a prayer to be repeated when plucking each herb, and tell how to use the Wissowa, 809-820. The Poiman- dres was translated into English by John Everard, D.D., a mystic but also a popular preacher whose outspoken sermons caused his fre- quent arrest and imprisonment during the reigns of James I and Charles I. James is reported to have said of him, "What is this Dr. Ever-out? Hi? name shall be Dr. Never-out," {Diet. Nat. Biog,). Dr. Everard's translation was printed in 1650 and again in 1657 when the "Asclepius" was added to it. In 1884 it appeared again in the Bath Occult Reprint Series with an introduction by Hargrave Jennings, and the second volume in the same series was Hermes' The Virgin of the World, pub- lished at London. Kroll mentions only the more recent translation by Mead, Thrice Greatest Her- mes. London, 1906. ^ Consult the bibliography in Kroll's article in Pauly-Wissowa. ' See the various volumes of Catalogiis codicum astrologorum Graecorum, passim. ^ Unprinted. ■* An English translation by John Harvey was printed in Lon- don, 1657, i2mo. It also exists in manuscript form in the British Museum ; Sloane 1734, fols. 283- 98, "The learned work of Hermes Trismegistus intituled hys Phis- icke Mathematycke or Mathe- maticall Physickes, direct to Ham- mon Kinge of Egvpte." 'Orphica, ed. Abel (1885), p. 141. " It was to a work on this last subject that Pamphilus, cited by Galen, referred in mentioning the herb aerov, but this plant is not named in the extant treatise on the decans. Such treatises are more or less addressed to As- clepius : printed in J. B. Pitra, Analecta Sacra, V, ii, 279-go; Cat. cod. antral. Grace. IV, 134; VI, 83; VII, 231; VIII, ii, 159; VIII, iii, 151; and by Ruelle, Rev. Phil, XXXII, 247. 292 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Hermetic works of alchemy. Nechepso and Petosiris. Manetho. astrological figures of the decans, engraved on stones, as healing amulets. Works under the name of Hermes Trismegistus are cited by Greek alchemists of the closing Roman Empire, such as Zosimus, Stephanus, and Olympiodorus, but those Her- metic treatises of alchemy which are extant are of late date and much altered. ■"• Some treatises are preserved only in Arabic; others are medieval Latin fabrications. The Greek alchemists, however, seem to have recited the mystic hymn of Hermes from the Poimandres? Hellenistic and Roman astrology sought to extend its roots far back into Egyptian antiquity by putting forth spurious treatises under the names, not only of Hermes Trismegistus, but also of Nechepso and Petosiris,^ who were regarded respectively as an Egyptian king and an Egyptian priest who had lived at least seven centuries before Christ. Indeed, they were held to be the recipients of divine revela- tion from Hermes and Asclepius. A lengthy astrological treatise, which Pliny ^ is the first to cite and from a four- teenth book of which Galen ^ mentions a magic ring of jasper engraved with a dragon and rays, seems to have appeared in their names probably at Alexandria in the Hellenistic period. Only fragments and citations ascribed to Nechepso and Petosiris are now extant.^ Yet another astrological work which claims to be drawn from the secret sacred books and cryptic monuments of ancient Egypt is ascribed to Manetho. It is a compilation ^Berthelot (1885), pp. 133-6, and his article on Hermes Trisme- gistus in La Grande Encyclopedie; also Kroll on Hermes in Pauly- Wissowa, 799. 'Berthelot (1885), p. 134. * Bouche-Leclercq, L'Astrologie grecque, 1899, PP- xi, 519-20, 563-4- *NH, n, 21; VH, 50. "Kiihn, Xn, 207. "They have been collected and edited by E. Riess, Ncchepsonis et Petosiridis frag'menta niagica, in Philologus, Supplbd. VI, Got- tingen (1891-93), pp. 323-394- See also F. Boll, Die Erforschung der antikcn Astrologie, in Neue Jahrb. fiir das klass. Altert., XI (1908), p. 106, and his dissertation of the same title published at Bonn, 1890. I have found that Riess, while in- cluding some of the passages at- tributed to Nechepso by the sixth century medical writer, Aetius, seems to have overlooked the "Emplastrum Nechepsonis e cu- presso," Aetius, Tetrabibl., IV, Sermo III, cap. 19 (p. 771 in the edition of Stephanus, 15^). X SPURIOUS MYSnC WRITINGS 293 in verse of prognostications from the various constellations and is regarded as the work of several writers, of whom the oldest is placed in the reign of Alexander Severus in the third century.^ Orpheus is another author more cited than preserved by The classical antiquity. Pliny called him the first writer on herbs Orpheus, and suspected him of magic. Ernest Riess affirms that Rohde (Psyche, p. 398) "has abundantly proved that Orpheus' followers were among the chief promulgators of purifications and charms against evil spirits." ^ Among poems of some length extant under Orpheus' name the one of most interest to us is the Lithica, where in 770 lines the virtues of some thirty gems are set forth with considerable allusion to magic.^ The authorship is uncertain, but the verse is supposed to follow the prose treatise by Damigeron who lived in the second century B. C. The date of the poem is now generally fixed in the fourth century of our era, although King ^ argued for an earlier date. I agree with him that the allusion in lines 71-74 to decapitation on the charge of magic is, taken alone, too vague and blind to be associated with any particular event or time; editors since Tyrwhitt have connected it with the law of Constantius against magic and the persecution of magicians in 371 A. D. But King's contention that the Lithica is by the same author as the Argonaiitica, also ascribed to Orpheus, and is there- fore of early date, falls to the ground since the Argonaiitica, too, is now dated in the fourth century. ^ Bouche-Leclercq, L'Astrologie rus texts in the Cunningham grecquc, 1898, p. xiii. Axt and Memoirs of the Royal Irish Acad- Riegler, Manethonis Apotclesmati- emy. corum libri sex Cologne, 1832. 3 ^j^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ Lithica Also edited by Koechly. is contained in Orphica, ed. E. _*_E. Riess, On Ancient Super- Abel, Lipsiae et Pragae, 1885. A stition, in Transactions Ameri- rather too free English verse can Philological Association translation, Orpheus on Gems, (1895), XXVI, 40-55. Grenfell is given in C. W. King, T/j^ /v^a/M- (1921), p. 151, announces that J. ral History, Ancient and Modern, G. Smyly is about to publish "a of Precious Stones and Gems and remarkable fragment of an Orphic of Precious Metals, London, 1865. ritual" among some thirty papy- * Pp. 397-98. 294 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Argument of the poem. Magic powers of stones. The Lithica opens by representing Hermes as bestowing upon mankind the precious lore of the marvelous virtues of gems. In his cave are stored stones which banish ghosts, robbers, and snakes, which bring health, happiness, victory in war and games, honor at courts and success in love, and which insure safety on journeys, the favor of the gods, and enable one to read the hidden thoughts of others and to understand the language of the birds as they predict the future. Few persons, however, avail themselves of this mystic lore, and those who do so are liable to be executed on the charge of magic. After this introduction, which may be regarded as a piquant appetizer to whet the reader's taste for further details, the virtues of individual stones are described, first in the words of Theodamas, a wise and divine man ^ whom the author meets on his way to perform annual sacrifice at an altar of the Sun, where as a child he narrowly escaped from a deadly snake, and then in a speech of the seer Helenus to Philoctetes which Theodamas quotes. Greek gods are often mentioned; as the poem proceeds the virtues of a number of gems are attributed to Apollo rather than Hermes; and there are allusions to Greek mythology and the Trojan war. Some gems are found in animals, for in- stance, in the viper or the brain of the stag. Let us turn to some examples of the marvelous virtues of particular stones. The crystal wins favorable answers from the gods to prayers; kindles fire, if held over sticks, yet itself remains cold; as a ligature benefits kidney trouble. Sacrifices in which the adamant is employed win the favor of the gods ; it is also called Lethaean because it makes one forget worries, or the milk-stone (galactis) because it re- news the milk of sheep or goats when powdered in brine and sprinkled over them. Worn as an amulet it counteracts the evil eye and gains royal favor for its bearer. The agate is an agricultural amulet and should be attached to the plow- man's arm and the horns of the oxen. Other stones help vineyards, bring rain or avert hail and pests from the crops. * Line 94, Trfplpovi QeioddfiavTL', line 1 65, baiixovio^ ^s. X SPURIOUS MYSTIC WRITINGS 295 Lychnis prevents a pot from boiling on a fire and makes it boil when the fire is dead. The magnet was used by the witches Circe and Medea in their spells; an unchaste wife is unable to remain in the bed where this stone has been placed with an incantation. Other stones cure snake-bite and various diseases, serve as love-charms or aids in child- birth, or counteract incantations and enchantments. To make the gem sidcritis or oreites utter vocal oracles Magic the operator must abstain for three weeks from animal food, ^^^^ the public baths, and the marriage bed ; he is then to wash P?wers of . ^ , , . . divination, and clothe the gem like an mfant and employ various sacri- fices, incantations, and illuminations. The gem Liparaios, known to the learned Magi of Assyria, when burnt on a bloodless altar with hymns to the Sun and Earth attracts snakes from their holes to the flame. Three youths robed in white and carrying two-edged swords should cut up the snake who comes nearest the fire into nine pieces, three for the Sun, three for the earth, three for the wise and prophetic maiden. These pieces are then to be cooked with wine, salt, and spices and eaten by those who wish to learn the language of birds and beasts. But further the gods must be invoked by their secret names and libations poured of milk, wine, oil, and honey. What is not eaten must be buried, and the participants in the feast are then to return home wearing chaplets but otherwise naked and speaking to no one whom they may meet. On their arrival home they are to sacrifice mixed spices. It will be recalled that Apollonius of Tyana and the Arabs also learned the language of the birds by eating snake-flesh. Thus gems are potent in religion and divination, love- Powers charms and child-birth, medicine and agriculture. The poem compared fails, however, to touch upon their uses in alchemy or rela- with herbs, tions to the stars, nor does it contain much of anything that can be called necromancy. But the author ranks the virtues of stones above those of herbs, whose powers disappear with age. Moreover, some plants are injurious, whereas the mar- velous virtues of stones are almost all beneficial as well as 296 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Magic herbs and demons in Orphic rites. Books ascribed to Zoroaster. permanent. "There is great force in herbs," he says, "but far greater in stones," ^ an observation often repeated in the middle ages. More stress is laid upon the power of demons and herbs in a description which has been left us by Saint Cyprian,^ bishop of Antioch in the third century, of some pagan mys- teries upon Mount Olympus into which he was initiated when a boy of fifteen and which have been explained as Orphic rites. His initiation was under the charge of seven hierophants, lasted for forty days, and included instruction in the virtues of magic herbs and visions of the operations of demons. He was also taught the meaning of musical notes and harmonies, and saw how times and seasons were governed by good and evil spirits. In short, magic, pseudo- science, occult virtue, and perhaps astrology formed an important part of Orphic lore. Cumont states in his Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism that "towards the end of the Alexandrine period the books ascribed to the half -mythical masters of the Persian science, Zoroaster, Hosthanes and Hystaspes, were translated into Greek, and until the end of paganism those names enjoyed a prodigious authority." ^ Pliny regarded Zoroaster as the founder of magic and we have met other examples of his reputation as a magician. Later we shall find him cited several times in the Byzantine Geoponica which seems to use a book ascribed to him on the sympathy and antipathy existing between natural objects.^ Naturally a number of pseudo-Zoroastrian books were in circulation, some of which Porphyry, the Neo- Platonist, is said to have suppressed. At least he tells us in his Life of Plotinus ^ that certain Christians and other men 'Lines 410-41 1. ' Confessio S. Cypriani, in Acta Sanctorum, ed. BoUandists, Sept., VII, 222; L. Preller, Philologus (1846), I, 349ff.; cited by A. B. Cook, Zeus, Cambridge, 1914, I, iio-iii. The work is treated more fully below in Chapter 18. ^ Franz Cumont, op. cit., Chi- cago, 191 1, p. 189. See also Windischmann, Zoroastrische Stu- dien, Berlin, 1863. * See below, Chapter 26. "Cap. 16. X SPURIOUS MYSTIC WRITINGS 297 claimed to possess certain revelations of Zoroaster, but that he advanced many arguments to show that their book was not written by Zoroaster but was a recent composition. There has been preserved, however, in the writings of J^^ ,, . r 1 1 Chaldean the Neo-Platonists a collection of passages known as the Oracles. Zoroastrian Logia or Chaldean Oracles ^ and which "present ... a heterogeneous mass, now obscure and again bom- bastic, of commingled Platonic, Pythagorean, Stoic, Gnostic, and Persian tenets." ^ Not only are these often cited by the Neo-Platonists, but Porphyry, lamblichus, and Proclus composed commentaries upon them.^ Some think that these citations and commentaries have reference to a single work put together by Julian the Chaldean in the period of the Antonines. This "mass of oriental superstitions, a medley of magic, theurgy, and delirious metaphysics," ^ was reverenced by the Neo-Platonists of the following centuries as a sacred authority equal to the Timaeus of Plato. Our next chapter will therefore deal with the writings of the Neo-Platonists upon whom this spurious mystic literature had so much influence. * Edited by Kroll, De oraculis Sacra, V, 2, pp. 192-95, Up6k\ov bt Chaldaicis, in Breslaii Philolog. rrjs XaXdaiKijs (l)i\oao4>Lai. Many quo- Abhandl., VII (1894), 1-76. Cory, tations of oracles from Porphyry's Ancient Fragments, London, 1832. De philosophia ex oraculis hausta ' L. A. Gray in A. V. W. Jack- are made by Eusebius, Praeparatio son, Zoroaster, 1901, pp. 259-60. evangclica, in PG, XXI. ' G. Wolff, Porphyrii de phi- ' Bouche-Leclercq, L'Astrologie losophia ex oraculis hauriendis, grecque, p. 599. Berlin, 1886. Pitra, Analecta CHAPTER XI NEO-PLATONISM AND ITS RELATIONS TO ASTROLOGY AND THEURGY Neo- Platonism and the occult. Neo-Platonism and the occult — Plotinus on magic — The life of rea- son is alone free from magic — Plotinus unharmed by magic — Invoking the demon of Plotinus — Rite of strangling birds — Plotinus and astrology —The stars as signs — The divine star-souls — How do the stars cause and signify? — Other causes and signs than the stars — Stars not the cause of evil — Against the astrology of the Gnostics — Fate and free- will— Summary of the attitude of Plotinus to astrology — Porphyry's Letter to Anebo — Its main argument — Questions concerning divine natures — Orders of spiritual beings — Nature of demons — The art of theurgy — Invocations and the power of words — Magic a human art : theurgy divine — Magic's abuse of nature's forces — Its evil character — Its deceit and unreality — Porphyry on modes of divination — lamblichus on divination — Are the stars gods? — Is there an art of astrology? — Porphyry and astrology — Astrological images — Number mysticism — Porphyry as reported by Eusebius — The emperor Julian on theurgy and astrology — Julian and divination — Scientific divination according to Ammianus Marcellinus — Proclus on theurgy — Neo-Platonic account of magic borrowed by Christians — Neo-Platonists and alchemy. That the Neo-Platonists were much given to the occult has been a common impression among- those who have written upon the period of the decline of the Roman Empire, of the end of paganism, and the passing of classical philosophy. This is perhaps in some measure the result of Christian view- point and hostility; probably the Christians of the period would seem equally superstitious to a modern Neo-Platonist. If the lives of the philosophers by Eunapius sound like fairy tales, ^ what do the lives of the saints of the same period sound like? If the Neo-Platonists were like our mediums, * Paul Allard, La transforma- tion dii Paganismc romain an IJ^e siccle, pp. 113-33, in Compte Rendu du Congrcs Scicnlifique International dcs Catholiqucs. Detixicme Section, Sciences re ligieuses. Paris, 1891. 298 CHAP. XI NEO-PLATONISM 299 what were the Christian exorcists like? But let us turn to the writings of the leading Neo-Platonists themselves, the only accurate mirror of their views. Plotinus/ who lived from about 204 to 270 A. D. and Plotinus on magic, is generally regarded as the founder of Neo-Platonism, was apparently less given to occult sciences than some of his successors.^ One of his charges against the Gnostics ^ is that they believe that they can move the higher and incor- poreal powers by writing incantations and by spoken words and various other vocal utterances, all which he censures as mere magic and sorcery. He also attacks their belief that diseases are demons and can be expelled by words. This wins them a following among the crowd who are wont to marvel at the powers of magicians, but Plotinus insists that diseases are due to natural causes.* Even he, however, ac- cepted incantations and the charms of sorcerers and magicians as valid, and accounted for their potency by the sympathy or love and hatred which he said existed between different objects in nature, which operates even at a dis- ^ Plotini opera o»inia, Forphyrii spect. A noteworthy recent pub- libcr de znta Plotini, cum Marsilii lication is W. R. Inge, Tlie Philos- Ficini commentariis . . . ed D. ophy of Plotinus, 1918, 2 vols. Wyttenbach, G. H. Moser, and F. " H. F. Muller, Plotinische Stu- Creuzer, Oxford, 1835, 3 vols. dicn II, in Hermes, XLIX, 70-89, Page references in my citations argues that the philosophy of are to this edition, but I have also Plotinus was genuinely Hellenic employed: Plotini Enneadcs, ed. and free from oriental influence, R. Volkmann, Leipzig, 1883; Se- that all theurgy was hateful to lect Works of Plotinus translated him, and that he opposed Gnos- from the Greek with an Introduc- ticism and astrology. Miiller tion containing the substance of seems to me to overstate his case Porphyry's Life of Plotinus, by and to be too ready to exculpate Thomas Taylor, new edition with Plotinus, or perhaps rather Hel- preface and bibliography by G. R. lenism, from concurrence in the S. Mead, London, 1909; K. S. superstition of the time. Guthrie, The Philosophy of Ploti- ^ For Gnosticism see Chapter 15. mis, Philadelphia, 1896, and Ploti- *'Ennead, II, 9, 14. IWwTivovirpos nos, Complete Works. 4 vols., tov% Tvucttikovs, ed. G. A. Heigl, 1918, English Translation. Where 1832; and Plotini De Virtutibus ct my citations give the number of Advcrsus Gnosticos libellos, ed. A. the chapter in addition to the Kirchhoff, 1847 ; are simply extracts Ennead and Book, these agree from the Enncads. See also C. \vith Volkmann's text and Guth- Schmidt, Plotin's Stellung cum rie's translation,— which, however, Gnosticismus u. kirchl. Christeti'- are not quite identical in this re- turn, 1900; in TU, X, 90 pp. 300 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. The life of reason is alone free from magic. Plotinus unharmed by magic. tance, and which is an expression of one world-soul ani- mating the universe,^ Plotinus held further, however, that only the physical and irrational side of man's nature was affected by drugs and sorcery, just as "even demons are not impassive in their irrational part," ^ and so are to some extent subject to magic. But the rational soul may free itself from all influ- ence of magic.^ Moreover, remorselessly adds the clear- headed Plotinus with a burst of insight that may well be attributed to Hellenic genius, he who yields to the charms of love and family affection or seeks political power or aught else than Truth and true beauty, or even he who searches for beauty in inferior things ; he who is deceived by appear- ances, he who follows irrational inclinations, is as truly bewitched as if he were the victim of magic and goetia so- called. The life of reason is alone free from magic.'* Whereat one is tempted to paraphrase a remark of Aelian ^ and exclaim, "What do you think of that definition of magic, my dear anthropologists and sociologists and modern students of folk-lore?" This immunity of the true philosopher and sincere fol- lower of truth from magic received illustration, according to Porphyr}',® in the case of Plotinus himself, who suffered no harm from the magic arts which his enemy, Alexandrinus Olympius, directed against him. Instead the baleful de- fluxions from the stars which Olympius had tried to draw down upon Plotinus were turned upon himself. Porphyry also states '^ that Plotinus was aware at the time of the "sidereal enchantments" of Olympius against him. Inci- dentally the episode provides one more proof of the essential unity of astrology and magic. ^Ennead, IV, 4, 40 (11, 805 or 434). Tas dk yoTjreLas wws', v "rfj avuiraOilq., Kal tw ■Ke4>VKivai avn4>uvlau elvai ofjLolwv KalkvavrLujatv avofiolo^v, Kal rfj Twv bvvay.c(j3v tuv toXXoij' troiKiXiif. els if ^ct)oi> awTeXovuTwv. Ibid. 42 (II, 808 or 436) . . .KalTlxvoLisKailaTpiiv Kal kvaoLduv aWo ctXXco rjuayKaadr] ira- paax^'i-v TL TTjs bvvkixeoi's ttis avrov. Ennead, IV, 9 (II, 891 or 479). el dk Kal kTTuioal Kal oXwj fiayelaL ffvvd- yovcn Kal avixiradtls TrSppudti' iroiov(Ti, wavTOi^ Toi hta i/'i'X^J nias. ^ Enncad, IV, 4 (II, 810 or 437). '^Ennead, IV, 4, 43-44. * Ennead, IV, 4, 44. " See Chapter XII, pp. 323-4. * Vita Plotini, cap. 10. ' Vita, cap. 10, XI NEO-PLATONISM 301 Plotinus, indeed, was regarded by his admirers as Invoking the divinely inspired, as another incident from the Life by demon of Porphyry will illustrate.^ An Egyptian priest had little diffi- Plotinus. culty in persuading Plotinus, who although of Roman parentage had been born in Egypt, to allow him to try to invoke his familiar demon. Plotinus was then teaching in Rome where he resided for twenty-six years, and the temple of Isis was the only pure place in the city which the priest could find for the ceremony. When the invocation had been duly performed, there appeared not a mere demon but a god. The apparition was not long enduring, however, nor would the priest permit them to question it, on the ground that one of the friends of Plotinus present had marred the success of the operation. This man had feared he might suffer some injury when the demon appeared and as a counter-charm had brought some birds which he held in his hands, apparently by the necks, for at the critical moment when the apparition appeared he suffocated them, whether from fright or from envy of Plotinus Porphyry declares himself unable to state. This practice of grasping birds by the necks in both The rite of hands is shown by a number of works of art to have been a birds. custom of great antiquity. We may see a winged Gorgon strangling a goose in either hand upon a plate of the seventh century B.C. from Rhodes now in the British Museum.^ A gold pendant of the ninth century B.C. from Aegina, now also in the British Museum, consists of a figure holding a water-bird by the neck in either hand, while from its thighs pairs of serpents issue on whose folds the birds stand with their bills touching the fangs of the snakes.^ There also is a figure of a winged goddess grasping two water-birds by the necks upon an ivory fibula excavated at Sparta.^ * Cap. 10. such as a figure holding up two ^ A748. water-birds, in immediate con- ' Shown in the article on nexion with IMycenaean gold pat- "Jewelry" in the eleventh edition terns." See further A. J. Evans of the Encyclopedia Britannica, in Journal of Hellenic Studies, Plate I, Figure 50. The article 1893, p. 197. says of the pendant, "Here we find *]. E. Harrison, Themis, Cam- the themes of archaic Greek art, bridge, 1912. p. 114, Fig. 20. 302 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Plotinus and astrology. The stars as signs. Porphyry also tells us in the Life that Plotinus devoted considerable attention to the stars and refuted in his writ- ings the unwarrantable claims of the casters of horoscopes.^ Such passages are found in the treatises on fate and on the soul, while one of his treatises is devoted entirely to the question, "Whether the stars effect anything?" ^ This was one of four treatises which Plotinus a little before his death sent to Porphyry, and which are regarded as rather inferior to those composed by him when in the prime of life. In the next century the astrologer, Julius Firmicus Maternus, re- gards Plotinus as an enemy of astrology and represents him as dying a horrible and loathsome death from gangrene.^ As a matter of fact the criticisms made by Plotinus were not necessarily destructive to the art of astrology, but rather suggested a series of amendments by which it might be made more compatible with a Platonic view of the uni- verse, deity, and human soul. These amendments also tended to meet Christian objections to the art. His criti- cisms were not new; Philo Judaeus had made similar ones over two centuries before.* But the great influence of Plotinus gave added emphasis to these criticisms. For in- stance, the point made by him several times that the motion of the stars "does not cause everything but signifies the future concerning each" ^ man and thing, is noted by Macrobius both in the Saturnalia ^ and the Dreamt of Scipio; "^ while in the twelfth century John of Salisbury, arguing against astrology, fears that its devotees will take refuge in the authority of Plotinus and say that they detract ^ Vita, cap. 15. It will be noted that like some of the church fathers Plotinus attacked geneth- lialogy rather than astrology. Upoa- elx^ 8i ToZs fj.ev ivepl Tcbv acrrepajv ko- vdaiv ov Trdfu Tt /laOrjuaTiKcbs, rotj 8e ruv yepeOXidXoycov airoTtkeaTiKols a.Kpv- pkarepop. Kal4>o}pa(Tas tvs kwayyeKLas r6 kvixtyyvov eXeyx^tf iroWaxov Kal (tuv) kv rots avyyp&fxfjiaaiu ovk ioKPrjae. ' Ennead II, 3, Ilepi tov el iroul tA, tarpa. Porphyry arranged his master's treatises in the form of six enneads of nine each and per- haps somewhat revised them at the same time. ^ Mathescos libri VIII, ed. Kroll et Skutsch, Lipsiae, 1897. I, 7, 14-22. *See below, pp. 353-4- ^ Ennead II, 3 (p. 242), "On v T03V SlCtpuiv opa. voitl . . . a.vaiJi^i6pois Kal ^ Ennead II, iii, 4. \6yoLstiboTroLriBkvTaKai4>^(r€(j}s dwaixtws * Guthrie's translation, Ennead neraXaliovTa, olov Kal XLOcov 4>voi3€pu:v, COS oiovTai, a> rals rod "Ibid., II, iii (pp. 243-6, 254-5, Koauov ffaiftai.s. 263-5). 3o6 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Fate and free-will. Summary of the atti- tude of Plotinus to astrology. nativities, place of residence, and the dispositions of indi- vidual souls. Amid all this diversity one must also expect both good and evil, but not on that account call nature or the stars either evil themselves or the cause of evil. As the allusion just made in the preceding paragraph to "the dispositions of individual souls" shows, Plotinus made a distinction between the extent of the control exercised by the stars over inanimate, animate, and rational beings. The stars signify all things in the sensible world but the soul is free unless it slips and is stained by the body and so comes under their control. Fate or the force of the stars is like a wind which shakes and tosses the ship of the body in which the soul makes its passage. Man as a part of the world does some things and suffers many things in accord- ance with destiny. Some men become slaves to this world and to external influences, as if they were bewitched. Others look to their inner souls and strive to free themselves from the sensible world and to rise above demonic nature and all fate of nativities and all necessity of this world, and to live in the intelligible world above. ^ Thus Plotinus arrives at practically what was to be the usual Christian position in the middle ages regarding the influence of the stars, maintaining the freedom of the human will and yet allowing a large field to astrological prediction. He is evidently more concerned to combat the notion that the stars cause evil or are to be feared as evil powers than he is to combat the belief in their influence and significations. His speaking of the stars both as signs and causes in a way doubles the possibility of prediction from them. If he at- tacked the language used by astrologers of the planets, and perhaps to a certain extent the technique of their art, he supported astrology by reconciling the existence of evil and of human freedom with a great influence of the stars and by his emphasis upon the importance of the figures made by the ^The references for the state- III, iv (p. 521); IV, iv (p. 813); ments in this paragraph are in II, iii (p. 260) ; III, iv (p. 520) ; the order of their occurrence: IV, 3 (p. 71 0 : in these cases the Enncad, II, iii (pp. 257, 251-2) ; higher page-numbering is used. XI NEO-PLATONISM 307 movements of the heavenly bodies above any purely physical effects of their bodies as such. Thus he reinforced the con- ception of occult virtue, always one of the chief pillars, if not the chief support, of occult science and magic. On the other hand, men were not likely to reform a language and technique sanctioned by as great an astronomer as Ptolemy merely because a Neo-Platonist questioned its propriety. Although Plotinus denied that diseases were due to de- Porphyry's mons, vve once heard him speak of "demonic nature," and J^H^^^ ^^ one of the Enneads discusses Each man's own demon. Here, however, the discussion is limited to the power presiding in each human soul, and nothing is said of magic. For the con- nection of demons with magic and for the art of theurgy we must turn to the writings of Porphyry and lamblichus, and especially to The Letter to Aneho of Porphyry, who lived from about 233 to 305, and the reply thereto of the master Abammon, a work which is otherwise known as Liber de mysteriis} The attribution of the latter work to lamblichus, who died about 330, is based upon an anonymous assertion prefixed to an ancient manuscript of Proclus and upon the fact that Proclus himself quotes a passage from the De mys- teriis as the words of lamblichus. This attribution has been questioned, but if not by lamblichus, the work seems to be at least by some disciple of his with similar views." Other works of lamblichus are largely philosophical and mathe- matical; among the chief works of Porphyry, apart from his literary work in connection with Plotinus, were his com- mentaries on Aristotle and fifteen books against the Chris- tians. The Letter to Anebo inquires concerning the nature of Its main the gods, the demons, and the stars; asks for an explana- ^^§""^^t- tion of divination and astrology, of the power of names and incantations; and questions the employment of invocations ^ Edited Venice, Aldine Press, lor's English translation, London, 1497 and 15 16; Oxford, 1678; by 1821. G. Partliey, Berlin, 1857. In_ the * Carl Rasche, De lamblicho following quotations from it I libri qui inscribitur de mysteriis have usually adhered to T. Ta}^- auctore, Aschendorff, 191 1, 82 pp. 3o8 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Questions concerning divine natures. and sacrifice. Other topics brought up are the rule of spirits over the world of nature, partitioned out among them for this purpose ; the divine inspiration or demoniacal possession of human beings ; and the occult sympathy between different things in the material universe. In especial the art of the- urgy, a word said to be used now for the first time by Por- phyry,^ is discussed. It may be roughly defined for the moment as a sort of pious necromancy or magical cult of the gods. Porphyry raises various objections to the procedure and logic of the theurgists, diviners, enchanters, and astrolo- gers, which lamblichus, as we shall henceforth call the au- thor of the De mysteriis as a matter of convenience if not of certainty, endeavors to answer, and to justify the art of theurgy. We may first note the theory of demons which is elicited from lamblichus in response to Porphyry's trenchant and searching questions. The latter, declaring that ignorance and disingenuousness concerning divine natures are no less rep- rehensible than impiety and impurity, demands a scientific discussion of the gods as a holy and beneficial act. He asks why, if the divine power is infinite, indivisible, and incom- prehensible, different places and different parts of the body are allotted to different gods. Why, if the gods are pure in- tellects, they are represented as having passions, are wor- shiped with phallic ritual, and are tempted with invocations and sacred offerings? Why boastful speech and fantastic action are taken as indications of the divine presence; and why, if the gods dwell in the heavens, theurgists invoke only terrestrial and subterranean deities? How superior beings can be invoked with commands by their inferiors, why the Sun and Moon are threatened, why the man must be just and chaste who invokes spirits in order to secure unjust ends or gratify lust, and why the worshiper must abstain from animal food and not touch a corpse when sacrifices to the gods consist of the bodies of dead victims? Porphyry ' Bouche-Leclercq, L'Astrologie grecque (1898), p. 599, citing Kroll, De oraculis Chaldaicis. XI NEO-PLATONISM 309 wishes further an explanation of the various genera of gods, visible and invisible, corporeal and incorporeal, beneficent and malicious, aquatic and aerial. He wants to know whether the stars are not gods, how gods differ from demons, and what the distinction is between souls and heroes. lamblichus in reply states that as heroes are elevated Orders of above souls, so demons are inferior and subservient to the belngg,^ gods and translate the infinite, ineffable, and invisible divine transcendent goodness into terms of visible forms, energy, and reason.^ He further distinguishes "the etherial, empy- rean, and celestial gods," and angels, archangels, and ar- chons.^ As for corporeal, visible, aerial, and aquatic gods, he affirms that the gods have no bodies and no particular allotments of space, but that natural objects participate in or are related to the gods etherially or aerially or aquatically, each according to its nature.^ "The celestial divinities," for example, "are not comprehended by bodies but contain bodies in their divine lives and energies. They are not themselves converted to body, but they have a body which is converted to its divine cause, and that body does not impede their intellectual and incorporeal perfection." ^ lamblichus denies that there are any maleficent gods, saying that "it is much better to acknowledge our inability to explain the occurrence of evil than to admit anything impossible and false concern- ings the gods." ^ But he admits the existence of both good and evil demons and makes of the latter a convenient scape- goat upon whom to saddle any inconsistencies or impurities in religious rites and magical ceremony. lamblichus does not, however, hold the view of Apuleius Nature of that demons are subject to passions. They are impassive ^"^°"s. and incapable of suffering.^ He scorns the notion that even the worst demons can be allured by the vapors of animal sacrifice or that petty mortals can supply such beings with anything;'^ it is rather in the consumption of foul matter * De mysieriis, I, 5. ° IV, 6. *VIII, 2. n, 10. 'I, 9. ''V, 10-12. *I, 17 (Taylor's translation). 310 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. by pure fire in the act of sacrifice that they take delight. Demons are not, however, like the gods entirely separated from bodies. The world is divided up into prefectures among them and they are more or less inseparable from and identified with the natural objects which they govern.^ Thus they may serve to enmesh the soul in the bonds of matter and of fate, and to afflict the body with disease.^ Also the evil demons "are surrounded by certain noxious, blood- devouring, and fierce wild beasts," probably of the type of vampires and empousas.^ lamblichus further holds that there is a class of demons who are without judgment and reason, each of whom has some one function to perform and is not adapted to do anything else,* Such demons or forces in nature men may well address as superiors in invoking them, since they are superior to men in their one special function ; but when they have once been invoked, man as a rational being may also well issue commands to them as his irra- tional inferiors.^ The art of lamblichus also undertakes the defense of theurgy and theurgy. . carefully distinguishes it from magic, as we shall soon see. It is also different from science, since it does not merely em- ploy the physical forces of the natural universe,^ and from philosophy, since its ineffable works are beyond the reach of mere intelligence, and those who merely philosophize theoretically cannot hope for a theurgic union or communion with the gods."^ Even theurgists cannot as a rule endure the light of spiritual beings higher than heroes, demons, and angels,* and it is an exceedingly rare occurrence for one of them to be united with the supramundane gods.^ This theurgy, or "the art of divine works," operates by means of "arcane signatures" and "the power of inexplicable sym- bols." ^^ It is thus that lamblichus explains away most of the details in sacred rites and sacrifices to which Porphyry ' I, 20. ' IV, 10. MI, 6. 'II, II. "11,7. '11,3. MV, I. 'V, 20. MV. 2. "I, 9; VI, 6; II, II. XI NEO-PLATONISM 311 had objected as obscene or material and as implying that the gods themselves were passive and passionate. They are mystic symbols, "consecrated from eternity'' for some hid- den reason "which is more excellent than reason." ^ Occult virtues indeed! We have already heard lamblichus state that natural objects participate in or are related to the gods etherially or aerially or aquatically; theurgists therefore quite properly employ in their art certain stones, herbs, aro- matics, and sacred animals.^ By employing such potent sym- bols mere man takes on such a sacred character himself that he is able to command many spiritual powers.^ Invocations and prayers are also much used in theurgical Invoca- operations. But such invocations do not draw down the ^^e power impassive and pure gods to this world; rather they purify °f words, those who employ them from their passions and impurity and exalt them to union with the pure and the divine.* These prayers are symbolic, too. They do not appeal to human passions or reason, "for they are perfectly unknown and arcane and are alone known to the God whom they in- voke." ^ In another passage ^ lamblichus replies to Por- phyry's objection that such prayers are often composed of meaningless words and names without signification by de- claring— somewhat inconsistently with his previous asser- tion that these invocations are "perfectly unknown" — that some of the names "which we can scientifically analyze" comprehend "the whole divine essence, power and order." Moreover, if translated into another language, they do not have exactly the same meaning, and even if they do, they no longer retain the same power as in the original tongue. We shall meet a similar passage concerning the power of words and divine names in the church father Origen who lived earlier in the third century than Porphyry and lam- blichus. lamblichus concludes that "it is necessary that 'I, II. "I, 12. ay 2^ *I, 15; III, 24 (Taylor's trans- ^' ^^- lation). "IV. 2. "VII, 4. 312 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Magic a human art: theurgy divine. Magic's abuse of nature's forces. ancient prayers . . . should be preserved invariably the same." ^ Neither Porphyry nor lamblichus, I believe, employs the word, "magic," but they both often allude to its practitioners and methods by such expressions as "jugglers" and "enchant- ers" or by contrasting what is done "artificially" or by means of art with theurgical operations. In the last case the distinction is between what on the one hand is regarded as a divine mystery or revelation and what on the other hand is looked upon as a mere human art and contrivance. And "nothing . . . which is fashioned by human art is genuine and pure." ^ Christian writers drew a like distinc- tion between prophecy or miracle and divination or magic. Sometimes, however, lamblichus speaks of theurgy itself as an art, an involuntary admission of the close resemblance between its methods and those of magic. We are also told that if the theurgist makes a slip in his procedure, he there- by reduces it to the level of magic.^ Another distinction is that theurgy aims at communion with the gods while magic has to do rather with "the physi- cal or corporeal powers of the universe." ^ Both Porphyry and lamblichus believed that harmony, sympathy, and mutual attraction existed between the various objects in the uni- verse, which lamblichus asserted was one animal.^ Thus it is possible for man to draw distant things to himself or to unite them to, or separate them from, one another.^ But art may also use this force of sympathy between objects in an extreme and unseemly manner, and this disorderly forc- ing of nature, we are left to infer, constitutes an essential feature of m.agic, whose procedure is not truly natural or scientific. Magic not only disorders the law and harmony, and makes a perverse and contrary use of natural forces. Its practi- tioners are also represented as aiming at evil ends and as VII, 5. ' III, 29. •II. 10. *IV, 10. 'IV, 12. 'IV, 3. XI NEO-PLATONISM 313 themselves of evil character.^ They may try by their illicit and impure procedure to have intercourse with the gods or with pure spirits, but they are unable to accomplish this. All that they succeed in doing is to secure the alliance of evil demons by associating with whom they become more de- praved than ever. Such wicked demons may pose as angels of light by requiring that those who invoke them should be just or chaste, but afterwards they show their true colors by assisting in crimes and the gratification of lusts. ^ It is they, too, who assuming the guise of superior spirits are responsible for the boastful and arrogant utterances of which Porphyry complained in persons supposed to be di- vinely inspired.^ Finally magic is unstable and fantastic. "The imagina- Its deceit tions artificially produced by enchantment" are not real ob- ^ijj.y_ jects. Those who foretell the future by "standing on char- acters" are no theurgists, but employ a superficial, false, and deceptive procedure which can attract only evil demons.* These demons are themselves deceitful and produce "fic- titious images." ^ Porphyry in the Letter to Aneho also al- luded to the frauds of "jugglers." Although the attitude both of Porphyry and lamblichus is thus professedly unfa- vorable to the magic arts, we find that one of lamblichus's disciples, named Sopater, was executed under Constantine on a charge of having charmed the winds.® How is divination to be placed in reference to magic and Porphyry theurgy ? Porphyry had inquired concerning various meth- "" divina- ods of divination: in sleep, in trances, and when fully con- tion. scious; in ecstasy, in disease, and in states of mental aber- ration or enchantment. He mentioned divination on hear- ing drums and cymbals, by drinking water and other potions, by inhaling vapor ; divination in darkness, in a wall, in the open air or in the sunlight; by observing entrails or the flight of birds or the motion of the stars, or even by means 'IV, 10; III, 31. 'II, 10. ^ IV, 7. * E. S. Bouchier, Syria as a ' II, 10. Roman Province, Oxford, 1916, *VI, 5; III, 25; III, 13. p. 231. 314 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. of meal. Yet other modes of determining the future which he hsts are by characters, images, incantations, and invoca- tions, with which the use of stones and herbs is often com- bined. These details make it evident how impossible it is to draw any dividing line between the methods of magic and divination, and Porphyry himself states that those who in- voke the gods concerning the future not only "have about them stones and herbs," but are able to bind and to free from bonds, to open closed doors, and to change men's in- tentions. Among the virtues of parts of animals mentioned in his treatise upon abstinence from animal food are the powers of divination which may be obtained by eating the heart of a hawk or crow.-"- lamblichus Porphyry states that all diviners attribute their predic- tion.^^*^^' tions to gods or demons, but that he wonders if foreknowl- edge may not be a power of the human soul or perhaps accountable for by the sympathy which exists between differ- ent parts of the universe. lamblichus holds, however, that divination is neither a human art nor the work of nature but of divine origin.^ He perhaps regards it as little more than a branch of theurgy. He distinguishes between human dreams which are sometimes true, sometimes false, and dreams and visions divinely sent.^ If one is able to predict the future by drinking water, it is because the water has been divinely illuminated.* That we can predict when the mind is diseased and disordered, and that stupid or simple-minded men are often better able to prophesy than the wise and learned, are for him but further proofs that foreknowledge is a divine gift and not a human science, while divination by such means as rods, pebbles, grains of corn and wheat simply excites the more his pious admiration at the great- ness of divine power.^ He disapproves of divination by standing on characters,^ but sees no reason why divination in darkness, in a wall, or in sunlight, or by potions and in- cantations, may not be divinely directed. He will not, how- ^De absHnentia, II, 48. *III, 11. Mil, I, 10. "Ill, 24; III, 17. •Ill, 2-3. "Ill, 14. XI NEO-PLATONISM 315 ever, connect the disordered imaginations excited by dis- ease with divine presentiments.^ From true divination he also separates the "natural prescience" of certain animals M^hose acuteness of sense or occult sympathy with other parts and forces of nature enables them to perceive some com- ing events before men do. Their power resembles proph- ecy, "yet falls short of it in stability and truth." ^ Augury is an art whose conjectures have great probability, but they are based upon divine signs or portents effected in nature by the agency of demons.^ The stars are on a totally different plane from the other Are substances employed in divination. To Porphyry's ques- lods?^^^ tion whether they are not gods lamblichus is not content to reply that the celestial divinities comprehend these heav- enly bodies and that the bodies in no way impede "their in- tellectual and incorporeal perfection." ^ He must needs go on to argue that the stars themselves, as simple indivisible bodies, unchanging in quality and uniform in movement, closely approach to "the incorporeal essence of the gods." He then triumphantly if illogically concludes, "Thus there- fore the visible celestials are all of them gods and after a certain manner incorporeal." We may add the opinion of Chaeremon and others, noted by Porphyry, that the only gods were the physical ones of the Egyptians and the planets, signs of the zodiac, decans, and horoscope; all religious myths were explained by Chaeremon as astrological alle- gories. Porphyry objected that those who thus reduce religion is there to astrology submit everything to fate and leave the human ^^^"^l °^ ; soul no freedom, and furthermore that in any case astrology is an unattainable science. lamblichus defends it against these objections, insisting that the universe is divided under the rule of planets, signs, and decans ; ^ that the Egyptians *III, 25. Although, as stated Mil, 26. above, one may be divinely in- ' III, 15. spired while diseased. But there ' I, 17. is no causal connection between "VIII, 4. the two. 3i6 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Porphyry and astrology. Astrologi- cal images. do not make everything physical but ascribe two souls to man, one of which obeys the revolutions of the stars, while the other is intellectual and free ; ^ and that there is a sys- tematic art of astrology based on divine revelation and the long observations of the Chaldeans, although like any other science it may at times degenerate and become contaminated by error.^ lamblichus further regards as ridiculous the con- tention of those "who ascribe depravity to the celestial bodies because their participants sometimes produce evil." ^ In the brief separate treatise, De fato,'^ he again holds that all things are bound by the indissoluble chain of necessity which men call fate, but that the gods can loose the bonds of fate, and that the human mind, too, has power to rise above na- ture, unite with the gods, and enjoy eternal life. Whether Porphyry in his other extant works evidences a belief in astrology or not, and whether he wrote an Intro- duction to the Tetrabiblos or astrological handbook of Ptol- emy, has been disputed.^ This Introduction ascribed to Porphyry was much cited by subsequent astrologers ® and was printed in 1559 together with a much longer anonymous commentary on the Tetrabiblos which some ascribe to Proc- lus."^ Towards astrological images at least. Porphyry shows himself in the Letter to Anebo more favorable than lam- blichus, saying, "Nor are the artificers of efficacious images to be despised, for they observe the motion of celestial bodies." lamblichus, on the other hand, rather grudgingly admits that "the image-making art attracts a certain very obscure genesiurgic portion from the celestial effluxions." ^ He seems to have the same feeling against images as against 'VIII, 6. 'IX, 3-4. •I, 18. * lamblichus. In Nicomachi Geraseni arithmeticam introduc- tionem et De fato, published by Tennulius, Deventer and Arnheim, 1668. "Zeller, Philos. d. Gr., Ill, 2, 2, p. 608. cites passages to show Porphyry's leanings towards as- trology; but F. Boll, Studien ilber Claudius Ptolemaeus, 1 15-17, and Bouche-L e c 1 e r c q , L'Astrologie grccque, 601-602, are inclined to the opposite view. " CCAG, passim. ' Ed. Hieronymus Wolf, Basel, 1559, Greek and Latin. « III. 28. XI NEO-PLATONISM 317 characters, perhaps regarding both as bordering upon idol- atry.^ Plotinus, Porphyry, and lambHchus were all given to number mysticism. The sixth book of the sixth Ennead is entirely devoted to this subject, while Porphyry and lam- blichus both wrote Lives of Pythagoras and treatises upon his doctrine of number. Other works by Porphyry than the Letter to Anebo axe cited or quoted a good deal by Eusebius in Praeparatio evangeiica, especially his Hept r^s e/c \o'yloiv 4)Ckoao4)las , but the extracts are made for Eusebius's own purposes, which are to discredit pagan religion, and neither express Por- phyry's complete thought nor probably even tend to prove his original point. Besides showing that Porphyry was in- consistent in distinguishing the different victims to be sac- rificed to terrestrial and subterranean, aerial, celestial, and sea gods in the above-mentioned work, when in his De ab- stinentia a rebus animatis he held that beings who delighted in animal sacrifice were no gods but mere demons, Eusebius quotes him a good deal to show that the pagan gods were nothing but demons, that they themselves might be called magicians and astrologers, that they loved characters, and that they made their predictions of the future not from their own foreknowledge but from the stars by the art of as- trology, and that like men they could not even always read the decrees of the stars aright. The belief is also men- tioned that the fate foretold from the stars may be avoided by resort to magic.^ The Emperor Julian was an enthusiastic follower of lam- blichus whom he praises ^ in his Hymn to the Sovereign Sun delivered at the Saturnalia of 361 A. D. He also de- scribes "the blessed theurgists" as able to comprehend un- speakable mysteries which are hidden from the crowd, such as Julian the Chaldean prophesied concerning the god Number mysticism. Porphyry as reported by Euse- bius. The Emperor Julian on theurgy and astrology. ' III, 29. * Eusebius, Praep. evang., IV, 6- 15i 23; V, 6, II, 14-15; VI, I, 4-5; etc., in Migne, PG, XXI. _ ^ Loeb Library edition Julian's works, I, 398, 412, 433. of 3i8 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. of the seven rays.^ The emperor tells us that from his youth he was regarded as over-curious {irepLepyoTepov, a word which almost implies the practice of magic) and as a di- viner by the stars {aaTpbuavTiv). His Hymn to the Sun con- tains a good deal of astrological detail, speaks of the uni- verse as eternal and divine, and regards planets, signs, and decans as "the visible gods." In short, "there is in the heavens a great multitude of gods." - The Sun, however, is superior to the other planets, and as Aristotle has pointed out "makes the simplest movement of all the heavenly bodies that travel in a direction opposite to the whole." ^ The Sun is also the link between the visible universe and the intel- ligible world, and Julian infers from his middle station among the planets that he is also king among the intellec- tual gods.* For behind his visible self is the great Invisible. He frees our souls entirely from the power of "Genesis," or the force of the stars exercised at nativity, and lifts them to the world of the pure intellect.^ Julian believed in almost every form of pagan divina- tion as well as in astrology. To the oracles of Apollo he as- cribed the civilizing of the greater part of the world through the foundation of Greek colonies and the revelation of re- ligious and political law.^ The historian Ammianus Mar- cellinus '^ tells us that Julian was continually inspecting en- trails of victims and interpreting dreams and omens, and that he even proposed to re-open a prophetic fountain whose predictions were supposed to have enabled Hadrian to be- come emperor, after which that emperor blocked it up from fear that someone else might supplant him through its instru- mentality. In another passage ^ he defends Julian from the charge of magic, saying, "Inasmuch as malicious persons have attributed the use of evil arts to learn the future to this ruler who was a learned inquirer into all branches of knowledge, we shall briefly indicate how a wise man is able * I, 482, 498. '1,368. ' I, 405. I' 419. .. „ =•1:374-75. ;?$"'.^"' ^• M, 366-67. "XXI, 1. 7. XI NEO-PLATONISM 319 to acquire this by no means trivial variety of learning. The spirit behind all the elements, seeing that it is incessantly and everywhere active in the prophetic movement of peren- nial bodies, bestows upon us the gift of divination by the different arts which we employ; and the forces of nature, propitiated by varied rites, as from exhaustless springs pro- vide mankind with prophetic utterances." Ammianus thus regards the arts of divination as serious Scientific sciences based upon natural forces, although of course in divmation. the characteristic Neo-Platonic way of thinking he confuses the spiritual and physical and substitutes propitiatory rites for scientific experiments. His phrase, "the prophetic move- ment of perennial bodies" almost certainly means the stars and shows his belief in astrology. In another passage ^ he indicates the widespread trust in astrology among the Ro- man nobles of his time, the later fourth century, by saying that even those "who deny that there are superior powers in the sky," nevertheless think it imprudent to appear in public or dine or bathe without having first consulted an almanac as to the whereabouts of Mercury or the exact posi- tion of the moon in Cancer, The passage is satirical, no doubt, but Ammianus probably objects quite as much to their disbelief in superior powers in the sky as he does to the excess of their superstition. That astrology and divin- ation may be studied scientifically he again indicates in a description of learning at Alexandria. Besides praising the medical training to be had there, and mentioning the study of geometry, music, astronomy, and arithmetic, he says, "In addition to these subjects they cultivate the science which reveals the ways of the fates." ^ lamblichus's account of theurgy is repeated in more con- Proclus on densed form by Proclus (412-485) in a brief treatise or ^ ^"^sy- fragment which is extant only in its Latin translation by the Florentine humanist Ficinus, entitled De sacrificio et inagiaJ Neither magic nor theurgy, however, is mentioned * XXVIII, iv, 24. 1497, along with the De mysteriis, ^XXII, xvi, 17-18. and other works edited or com- ' Published at Venice (Aldine), posed by Marsilius Ficinus. See 320 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Neo Platonic account of magic bor- rowed by Christians. by name in the Latin text. Proclus states that the priests of old built up their sacred science by observing the sym- pathy existing between natural objects and by arguing from manifest to occult powers. They saw how things on earth were associated with things in the heavens and further dis- covered how to bring down divine virtue to this lower world by the force of likeness which binds things together. Pro- clus gives several examples of plants, stones, and animals which evidence such association. The cock, for instance, is reverenced by the lion because both are under the same planet, the sun, but the cock even more so than the lion. Therefore demons who appear with the heads of lions (leonina front e) vanish suddenly at the sight of a cock un- less they chance to be demons of the solar order. After thus indicating the importance of astrology as well as occult virtue in theurgy or magic, Proclus tells how demons are in- voked. Sometimes a single herb or stone "suffices for the divine work" ; sometimes several substances and rites must be combined "to summon that divinity." When they had secured the presence of the demons, the priests proceeded, partly under the instruction of the demons and partly by their own industrious interpretation of symbols, to a study of the gods. "Finally, leaving behind natural objects and forces and even to a great extent the demons, they won communion with the gods." Despite the writings of Porphyry and other Neo-Platon- ists against Christianity, much use was made by Christian theologians of the fourth and fifth centuries of the Neo- Platonic accounts of magic, astrology, and divination, es- pecially of Porphyry's Letter to Anebo. Eusebius in his Praeparatio Evangelica -^ made large extracts from it on these themes and also from Porphyry's work on the Chal- dean oracles. Augustine in The City of God ^ accepted Por- Pars II, Apologetica, Praep. Evang., IV, 22; V, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14; VI, I, 4; XIV, 10 (Migne, Patro- logia Gracca, vol. 21). also Prodi Opera, ed. Cousin, Paris, 1820-1827, III, 278; and Kroll, Analecta Graeca, Greiss- wald, 1901, where a Greek trans- lation accompanies the Latin text. ^ Euscbii Caesariemis Opera, *X, 9-10. XI NEO-PLATONISM 321 phyry as an authority on the subjects of theurgy and magic. On the other hand, we do not find the Christian writers re- peating the attitude of Plotinus that the Hfe of reason is alone free from magic, except as they substitute the word "Christianity" for "the Hfe of reason." The Neo-Platonists showed some interest in alchemy Neo- as well as in theurgy and astrology. Berthelot published in ^^^j his Collection dcs Alchimistes Grecs "a little tract of posi- alchemy, tive chemistry" which is extant under the name of lam- blichus ; and Proclus treated of the relations between the metals and planets and the generation of the metals under the influence of the stars. ^ Of Synesius, who was both a Neo-Platonist and a Christian bishop, and who seems to have written works of alchemy, we shall treat in a later chapter. * Berthelot (1889), p. ix. CHAPTER XII AELIAN^ SOLINUS AND HORAPOLLO Aelian On the Nature of Animals — General character of the work — Its hodge-podge of unclassified detail — Solinus in the middle ages — His date — General character of his work; its relation to Pliny — Animals and gems — Occult medicine — Democritus and Zoroaster not regarded as magicians — Some bits of astrology — Alexander the Great — The Hieroglyphics of Horapollo — Marvels of animals — Animals and as- trology— The cynocephalus — Horapollo the cosmopolitan. From mystic and theurgic compositions we return to works of the declining Roman Empire which deal more directly with nature but, it must be confessed, in a manner somewhat fantastic. About the beginning of the third century, Aelian of Praeneste, who is included by Philostratus in his Lives of the Sophists, wrote On the Nature of Animals} Its seventeen books, written in Greek, which Aelian used flu- ently despite his Latin birth, are believed to have reached us partly in interpolated form through two families of manuscripts, of which the older and less interpolated text is found in a thirteenth century manuscript at Paris and a somewhat earlier Vatican codex.^ A number of its chap- ters are similar to and perhaps borrowed from Pliny's Natural History; at any rate they are commonplaces of an- cient science ; but the work also has a marked individuality. Parallels have also been noted between this work and the later Hexaemeron of the church father Basil. Aelian was much cited in Byzantine literature and learning, and if he was not directly used in the Latin west, at least the attitude * Ilepi fciwv IStoTT/Tos. I have used henceforth be cited without title both the editio princeps by Gesner, in the notes. Zurich, 1556, and the critical edi- tion by R. Hercher, Paris, 1858, * See PW, and Christ, Gesch. d. and Teubner, 1864. The work will griech. Litt., for further details. 322 CHAP.xii AELIAN, SOLINUS, AND HORAPOLLO 323 toward animals which he displays and his selection of mate- rial concerning them are as apt precursors of medieval Latin as of medieval Greek scientific literature. In preface and epilogue Aelian himself adequately indi- General cates the character of his work. He is impressed by the of^^^g ^^ customs and characteristics of animals, and marvels at their work, wisdom and native shrewdness, their justice and modesty, their affection and piety, which should put human beings to blush. Thus Aelian's work is marked by that tendency which runs through ancient and medieval literature to ad- mire actions in the irrational brutes which seem to indicate almost human intelligence and virtue on their part, and to moralize therefrom at the expense of human beings. An- other striking feature of his work is its utterly whimsical and haphazard order. He mentions things simply as they happen to occur to him. This fact, too, he recognizes, but refuses to apologize for, stating that it suits him, if it does not suit anyone else, and that he regards a mixed-up order as more motley, variegated, and pleasing. Not only does he attempt no classification whatever of his animals and mention snakes and quadrupeds and birds in the same breath ; he also does not complete the treatment of a given animal in one passage but may scatter detached items about it through- out his work. There is, for instance, probably at least one chapter concerning elephants in each of his seventeen books. It would therefore be absurd for us to attempt any logi- its hodge- cal arrangement in discussing his contents; we may do jus- P^'^p 9^ tice to him most adequately by adopting his own lack of fied detail, method and noting a few items and topics taken more or less at random from his work. Ants never go out in the new moon. Yet they neither gaze at the sky, nor count the num- ber of days on their fingers, like the learned Babylonians and Chaldeans, but have this marvelous gift from nature.^ In sexual intercourse the female viper conceives through the mouth and bites off the head of the male; afterwards her young gnaw their way out of her vitals. "What have your ^ I, 22. 324 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Oresteses and Alcmaeons to say to that, my dear trage- dians?" ^ Doves put laurel boughs in their nests to guard against fascination and the evil eye, and the hoopoe simi- larly employs ablavrov or KaWlrpLxov as an amulet;^ and other unreasoning animals guard against sorcery by some mystic and marvelous natural power. Another chapter treats of divinations from the crow and how hairs are dyed black with its eggs.^ Others tell us of the generation of serpents from the marrow of a dead man's spine,* and of venomous women like Medea and Circe who are worse than the asp with its incurable sting, since they kill by mere touch. ^ We go on to read of swift little beasts called Pyrigoni who are generated from fire and live in it, of salamanders who extinguish flames, of the remedies used by the tortoise against snakes, of the chastity of doves whose marriages never result in divorce, and of the incontinence of the par- tridge.® Also of the jealousies of certain animals like the stag which hides its right horn, the lizard who devours its cast-off skin, and the mare who eats the hippomanes from its colt, lest men obtain these precious substances,'^ Of the care taken by storks, herons, and pelicans of their aged parents.^ How the swallow by the virtue of an herb gives sight to its young who are born blind, and how a hoopoe found an herb whose virtue dissolved the mud with which the caretaker of a building had plugged up the hole in the wall which it used for its nest.^ How the lion and basilisk fear the cock, and of a lake without fish in a place where the cocks do not crow.^° How elephants venerate the waxing moon ; how the wea- sel eats rue when about to fight the snake; and of the jeal- * I, 24. " I, 54. =■ I, 35. D. W. Thompson, Glos- " II, 2 and 31 ; III, 5. sary of Greek Birds, p. 57, notes 'III, 17. that in the Birds of Aristophanes, 'III, 23 and 25. where the hoopoe appears, "the 'III, 26; in I, 45, the wood- mysterious root in verse 654 is the pecker similarly employs the vir- magical &SLavTov" tue of an herb to remove a stone ■ I, 48. blocking the entrance to its nest. * I, 52. " III, 32 and 38. XII AELIAN, SOLINUS, AND HORAPOLLO 325 ousy of the hedge-hog and lynx, the latter concealing his precious urine, the other watering his own hide when he is captured in order to spoil it.-^ How the Indians fight grif- fins when collecting gold.^ How the presence of a cock aids a woman's delivery.^ Of unnamed beasts in Libya who know how to count and leave an eleventh part of their prey untouched.* That the sea dragon is easily captured with the left hand but not with the right.^ Dragons know the force of herbs and cure themselves with some and increase their venom with others.® How dogs, cows, and other ani- mals sense a famine or plague be forehand. ''^ How the Egyptians by their magic charm birds from the sky and snakes from their holes. ^ When it rains in Eg>'pt, mice are born from the small drops and plague the country. Traps and fences and ditches are of no avail against them, as they can leap over trenches and walls. Consequently the Egyp- tians are forced to pray God to end the calamity,^ — an in- teresting variant on the Old Testament account of the plagues of Egypt. In dogs there exists a certain dialectical faculty of ratioc- ination.^^ The weather may be predicted from birds, quad- rupeds, and flies.^^ The she-goat can cure suffusion of its eyes.^- Eagles drop tortoises on rocks to break their shells and the bald-headed poet Aeschylus met his death by having his pate mistaken thus for a smooth round stone.^^ Some predict the future by birds, others by entrails, or by grains, sieves, and cheeses; the Lycians practice divination by fish.^* A stork whom a widow of Tarentum helped when it was too young to fly brought her a luminous precious stone the following year.^^ Solon did not have to enact a law ordering 'IV, 10, 14, 17. "VII, 14. WYr' ^^- "VII, 16. The story is also ,}V, 29. found in Pliny NH, X, 3, where 5 \j: ' 53- it is added that Aeschylus re- g V> 2>7- mained cut-doors that day, be- , y {;' 4- cause an oracle predicted that he g^}' 10. would be killed by the fall of a ^ VI, 22' (tortoise's) house. "Vi,^59. "VIII, 5. "VII, 7-8. "VIII, 22. 326 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. children to support their aged parents in the case of lions, whose cubs are taught by nature filial piety toward their elders.^ Only the horn of the Scythian ass can hold the water of the Arcadian river Styx; Alexander the Great sent a sample of it to Delphi with some accompanying verses which Aelian quotes.^ In Epirus dragons sacred to Apollo are employed in divination, and in the Lavinian Grove drag- ons spit out again the frumenty offered them by unchaste virgins.^ By flying beneath it an eagle saved the life of its young one who had been thrown down from a tower.* Dif- ferent fish eat different sea herbs.^ There are fish who live in boiling water.® There are scattered mentions of the marvels of India throughout Aelian' s work, and in his six- teenth book the first fourteen chapters are almost exclu- sively concerned with the animals of that land. Solinus A well-known work in the middle ages dating from the middle period of the Roman Empire was the Collectanea rerum ages. memorabilium or Polyhistor of Solinus. Mommsen's edi- tion lists 153 manuscripts from 32 places,'^ and we shall find many citations of Solinus in our later medieval authors. Martianus Capella and Isidore were the first to make exten- sive use of his work. In the thirteenth century Albertus Magnus had little respect for Solinus as an authority and expressed more than once the quite accurate opinion that his work was full of lies. Nevertheless copies of it con- tinued to abound in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and by 1554 five printed editions had appeared. "From it directly come most of the fables in works of object so dif- ferent as those of Dicuil, Isidore, Capella, and Priscian." ^ His date. The first extant author to make use of Solinus is Augus- tine in The City of God, while he is first named in the Gen- ealogus of 455 A. D. None of the manuscripts of the work ^IX, I. rum memorabilium iterum recen- 'X, 40. suit Th. Mommsen, Berlin, 189S, ' XI, 2 and 16. pp. xxxi-li. Beazley, Dawn of *XII, 21. Modern Geography, I, 520-2, lists • XIII, 3. 152 MSS. * XIV, 19. * Beazley, Dawn of Modern ' C. lulii Solini Collectanea re- Geography. 1, 247. XII AELIAN, SOLINUS, AND HORAPOLLO 327 antedate the ninth century, but many of them have copied an earlier subscription from a manuscript written "by the zeal and diligence of our lord Theodosius, the unconquered prince." This is taken to refer to the emperor Theodosius II, 401-450. The work itself, however, has no Christian characteristics; on the contrary it is very fond of mentioning places famed in pagan religion and Greek mythology and of recounting miracles and marvels connected with heathen shrines and rites. Indeed, Solinus seldom, if ever, men- tions anything later than the first century of our era. He speaks of Byzantium, not of Constantinople, and makes no mention of the Roman provinces as divided in the system of Diocletian. His book, however, is a compilation from earlier writings so that we need not expect allusions to his own age. The Latin style and general literary make-up of the work are characteristic of the declining empire and early medieval period. Mommsen was inclined to date Solinus in the third rather than the fourth century, but the work seems to have been revised about the sixth century, after which date it became customary to call it the Polyhistor rather than the Collectanea rerum memorahilium. It is also referred to, however, as De mirabilibus mundi, or Wonders of the World. The work is primarily a geography and is arranged by General countries and places, beginning with Rome and Italy. As character each locality is considered, Solinus sometimes tells a little work: its of its history, but is especially inclined to recount miracu- ^o Pliny, lous religious events or natural marvels associated with that particular region. Thus in describing two lakes he rather apologizes for mentioning the first at all because it can scarcely be called miraculous, but assures us that the second "is regarded as very extraordinary." ^ Sometimes he di- gresses to other topics such as calendar reform.^ Solinus drav/s both his geographical data and further details very largely from Pliny's Natural History; but inasmuch as Pliny treated of these matters in separate books, Solinus has * Mommsen (1895), p. 48. 'Ibid., p. 7. 328 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. to re-organize the material. He also selects simply a few particulars from Pliny's wealth of detail on any given sub- ject, and furthermore considerably alters Pliny's wording, sometimes condensing the thought, sometimes amplifying the phraseology — apparently in an effort to make the point clearer and easier reading. Of Pliny's thirty-seven books only those from the third to the thirteenth inclusive and the last book are used to any extent by Solinus. That is to say, he either was acquainted with only, or confined himself to, those books dealing with geography, man and other animals, and gems, omitting almost entirely, except for the twelfth and thirteenth books, Pliny's elaborate treatment of vegeta- tion and of medicinal simples -^ and discussion of metals and the fine arts. Solinus does not acknowledge his great debt to Pliny in particular, although he keeps alluding to the fulness with which everything has already been discussed by past authors, and although he cites other writers who are almost unknown to us. Of his known sources Pomponius Mela is the chief after Pliny but is used much less. On the other hand, the number of passages for which Mommsen was unable to give any source is not inconsiderable. As may have been already inferred, the work of Solinus is brief ; the text alone would scarcely fill one hundred pages.^ Animals It would perhaps be rash to conjecture which quality and gems, commended the book most to the following period : its handy size, or its easy style and fairly systematic arrangement, or its emphasis upon marvels. The last characteristic is at least the most germane to our investigation. Solinus ren- dered the service, if we may so term it, of reducing Pliny's treatment of animals and precious stones in particular to a few common examples, which either were already the best known or became so as a result of his selection. Indeed, King was of the opinion that the descriptions of gems in Solinus were more precise, technical, and systematic than ^Yet one medieval MS of So- century, fols. 156-74- linus is described as De variorum ^ In Mommsen's edition critical herbarum et radicum qualitate et apparatus occupies more than one- virtute mcdica; Vienna 3959, 15th half of the 216 pages. XII AELIAN, SOLINUS, AND HORAPOLLO 329 those in Pliny, and found his notices "often extremely use- ful." ^ Solinus describes such animals as the wolf, lynx, bear, lion, hyena, onager or wild ass, basilisk, crocodile, hippopotamus, phoenix, dolphin, and chameleon ; and re- counts the marvelous properties of such gems as achates or agate, galactites, catochites, crystal, gagates, adamant, helio- trope, hyacinth, and paeanites. The dragons of India and Ethiopia also occupy his attention, as they did that of Phi- lostratus in the Life of Apolloniits of Tyana; indeed, he re- peats in different words the statement found in Philostratus that they swim far out to sea.^ In Sardinia, on the con- trary, there are no snakes, but a poisonous ant exists there. Fortunately there are also healing waters there with which to counteract its venom, but there is also native to Sardinia an herb called Sardonia which causes those who eat it to die of laughter.^ Although Solinus makes no use of Pliny's medical books. Occult he shows considerable interest in the healing properties of "^ *'^'"^' simples and in medicine. He tells us that those who slept in the shrine of Aesculapius at Epidaurus were warned in dreams how to heal their diseases,'* and that the third daugh- ter of Aeetes, named Angitia, devoted herself "to resisting disease by the salubrious science" of medicine.^ According to Solinus Circe as well as Medea was a daughter of Aeetes, but usually in Greek mythology she is represented as his sister. * C. W. King, The Natural His- VII, 52) speaks of as a premoni- tory. Ancient and Modern, of tory sign of death in cases of Precious Stones and Gems, Lon- madness, "is not the indication of don, 1865, p. 6. mirth, but what has been termed =■ Mommsen (1895), PP. 132, 188. ^^^ ""tl"' Sardoniciis, the 'Sardonic l^ygj^^ produced by a convulsive * Ibid., 46-7. Mommsen could action of the muscles of the face." give no source for these state- This form of death may be what ments concerning Sardinia, and Solinus has in mind. Agricola in they donot appear to be in Pliny. his work on metallurgy and mines But it is from a footnote in the still believes in the poisonous ants English translation of the Natural of Sardinia; De re metaUica, VI, History by Bostock and Riley (II, near close, pp. 216-7, in Hoover's 208, citing Dalechamps, and Le- translation, 1912. maire. III, 201) that I learn that "Mommsen (1895), p. 57. the laughter which Pliny (NH, '^ Ibid., p. 39. CHAP. Democri- tus and Zoroaster not re- garded as magicians. Some bits of astrology. 330 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE This allusion to Circe and Medea shows that magic, to which medicine and pharmacy are apparently akin, does not pass unnoticed in Solinus's page. He copies from Mela the account of the periodical transformation of the Neuri into wolves.^ But instead of accusing Democritus of having em- ployed magic, as Pliny does, Solinus represents him as en- gaging in contests with the Magi, in which he made frequent use of the stone catochites in order to demonstrate the oc- cult power of nature.^ That is to say, Democritus was ap- parently opposing science to magic and showing that all the latter's feats could be duplicated or improved upon by em- ploying natural forces. In two other passages ^ Solinus calls Democritus physicus, or scientist, and affirms that his birth in Abdera did more to make that town famous than any other thing connected with it, despite the fact that it was founded by and named after the sister of Diomedes. Zoroaster, too, whom Pliny called the founder of the magic art, is not spoken of as a magician by Solinus, although he is mentioned three times and is described as "most skilled in the best arts," and is cited concerning the power of coral and of the gem aetites^ It is not part of Solinus's plan to describe the heavens, but he occasionally alludes to "the discipline of the stars," ^ as he calls astronomy or astrology. On the authority of L. Tarrutius, "most renowned of astrologers," ® he tells us that the foundations of the walls of Rome were laid by Romulus in his twenty-second year on the eleventh day of the kalends of May between the second and third hours, when Jupiter was in Pisces, the sun in Taurus, the moon in Libra, and the other four planets in the sign of the scorpion. He also ^Mommsen (1895), p. 82. ''Ibid., pp. 45-46. *Ioid., pp. 13, 68. *lbid., pp. 18, 41, 159- '^ Ibid., p. 50, and elsewhere, "siderum disciplinam." ''Ibid., p. 5, "mathematicorum nobilissimus." Solinus probably takes this from Varro, who, as Plutarch informs us in his Life of Romulus, asked "Tarrutius, his familiar acquaintance, a good philosopher and mathematician," to calculate the horoscope of Romulus. See above, p. 209. XII AELIAN, SOLINUS, AND HOR APOLLO 331 speaks of the star Arcturus destroying the Argive fleet off Euboea on its return from Ilium. ^ Alexander the Great figures prominently in the pages of Alexander Solinus, being mentioned a score of times, and this too cor- responds to the medieval interest in the Macedonian con- queror. Stories concerning him are repeated from Pliny, but Solinus also displays further information. He insists that Philip was truly his father, although he adds that Olym- pias strove to acquire a nobler father for him, when she affirmed that she had had intercourse with a dragon, and that Alexander tried to have himself considered of divine descent.^ The statement concerning Olympias suggests the story of Nectanebus, of which a later chapter will treat, but that individual is not mentioned, although Aristotle and Cal- listhenes are spoken of as Alexander's tutors, so that it is doubtful if Solinus was acquainted with the Pseudo-CaUis- thenes. He describes Alexander's line of march with fair accuracy and not in the totally incorrect manner of the Pseud o-Callisthenes. In seeking a third text and author of the same type as The Aelian and Solinus to round out the present chapter, our giyphicsoi choice unhesitatingly falls upon the Hieroglyphics of Hora- Horapollo. polio, a work which pretends to explain the meaning of the written symbols employed by the ancient Egyptian priests, but which is really principally concerned with the same mar- velous habits and properties of animals of which Aelian treated. In brief the idea is that these characteristics of animals must be known in order to comprehend the signifi- cance of the animal figures in the ancient hieroglyphic writ- ing. Horapollo is supposed to have written in the Egyptian language in perhaps the fourth or fifth century of our era,^ but his work is extant only in the Greek translation of it made by a Philip who lived a century or two later and who seems to have made some additions of his own.* ^Mommsen (1905), pp. 75-6. ''I have used the text and Eng- ^Ibid., p. 66. lish translation of A. T. Cory, * PW, for the problem of his The Hieroglyphics of Horapollo identity and further bibliography. Nilous, 1840. Philip's Greek is so 332 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Marvels of The zoology of Horapollo is for the most part not novel, but repeats the same erroneous notions that may be found in Aristotle's History of Animals, Pliny's Natural History, Aelian, and other ancient authors. Again we hear of the basilisk's fatal breath, of the beaver's discarded testicles, of the unnatural methods of conception of the weasel and viper, of the bear's licking its cubs into shape, of the kind- ness of storks to their parents, of wasps generated from a dead horse, of the phoenix, of the swan's song, of the sick lion's eating an ape to cure himself, of the bull tamed by tying it to the branch of a wild fig tree, of the elephant's fear of a ram or a dog and how it buries its tusks. ^ Less familiar perhaps are the assertions that the mare miscarries, if she merely treads on a wolf's tracks;^ that the pigeon cures itself by placing laurel in its nest; ^ that putting the wings of a bat on an ant-hill will prevent the ants from com- ing out.* The statement that if the hyena, when hunted, turns to the right, it will slay its pursuer, while if it turns to the left, it will be slain by him, is also found in Pliny.^ But his long enumeration of virtues ascribed to parts of the hyena by the Magi does not include the assertion in Horapollo's next chapter ® that a man girded with a hyena skin can pass through the ranks of his enemies without in- jury, although it ascribes somewhat similar virtues to the animal's skin. In Horapollo it is the hawk rather than the eagle which surpasses other winged creatures in its ability to gaze at the sun; hence physicians use the hawk-weed in eye-cures.'^ bad that some would date it in the II, 44 and 39 and 76-7 and 85-6 fourteenth or fifteenth century. and 88. The oldest extant Greek codex ^ II, 45. was purchased in Andros in 1419. MI, 46; Aelian says the same, The work was translated into however, as we stated above. Latin by the fifteenth century at " II, 64. latest; see Vienna 3255, 15th cen- "NH, XXVIII, 27. tury, 82 fols., Horapollo, Hiero- °II, 72. glyphicon latirie versorum liber I ' I, 6. According to Pliny (NH, et libri II introductio cum figuris XX, 26), the hawk sprinkles its calamo exaratis et coloratis. eyes with the juice of this herb; ^I, i; II, 61; II, 65; II, 36 and Apuleius (Metamorphoses, cap. 59; II, 57; II, 83; I, 34-5; il, 57; 30) says that the eagle does so. XII AELIAN, SOLINUS, AND HORAPOLLO 333 Animals also serve as astronomical or astrological sym- Animals bols in the system of hieroglyphic writing as interpreted by astrology. Horapollo. Not only does a palm tree represent the year because it puts forth a new branch every new moon/ but the phoenix denotes the magnus annus in the course of which the heavenly bodies complete their revolutions.^ The scarab rolls his ball of dung from east to west and gives it the shape of the universe.^ He buries it for twenty-eight days con- formably to the course of the moon through the zodiac, but he has thirty toes to correspond to the days of the month. As there is no female scarab, so there is no male vulture. The female vulture symbolizes the Egyptian year by spend- ing five days in conceiving by the wind, one hundred and twenty in pregnancy, the same period in rearing its young, and the remaining one hundred and twenty days in prepar- ing itself to repeat the process.* The vulture also visits battlefields seven days in advance and by the direction of its glance indicates which army will be defeated. The cynocephalus, dog-headed ape, or baboon, was men- The cyno- tioned several times by Pliny, but Horapollo gives more ^^^ specific information concerning it, chiefly of an astrological character. It is born circumcised and is reared in temples in order to learn from it the exact hour of lunar eclipses, at which times it neither sees nor eats, while the female ex gen- italibus sanguinem emittit. The cynocephalus represents the inhabitable world which has seventy-two primitive parts, because the animal dies and is buried piecemeal by the priests during a period of as many days, until at the end of the seventy-second day life has entirely departed from the last remnant of its carcass.^ The cynocephalus not only marks the time of eclipses but at the equinoxes makes water twelve times by day and by night, marking off the hours ; hence a figure of it is carved by the Egyptians on their water-clocks.® Horapollo associates together the god of the universe and fate and the stars which are five in number, for he believes *I, 3. "I. II- 'II, 57. "I. 14. •I, 10. "I. 16. 334 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap, xii that five planets carry out the economy of the universe and that they are subject to God's government.^ Horapollo Horapollo cannot be given high rank either as a zoolo- poHtan"^°" S^^^ ^"^ astronomer, or a philologer and archaeologist; but at least he was no narrow nationalist and had some respect for history. The Egyptians, he says, "denote a man who has never left his own country by a human figure with the head of an ass, because he neither hears any history nor knows of what is going on abroad." ^ *I, 13. ^I» 23. Foreword. Chapter 13- <( 14, (( 15- (( 16. BOOK II. EARLY CHRISTIAN THOUGHT The Book of Enoch. Philo Judaeus. The Gnostics. The Christian Apocrypha. 17. The Recognitions of Clement and Simon Magus. 18. The Confession of Cyprian and some similar stories. 19. Origen and Celsus. 20. Other Christian Discussion of Magic before Augustine. 21. Christianity and Natural Science; Basil, Epiphanius, and the Physiologus. 22. Augustine on Magic and Astrology. 23. The Fusion of Pagan and Christian Thought in the Fourth and Fifth Centuries. 335 BOOK II. EARLY CHRISTIAN THOUGHT FOREWORD We now turn back chronologically to the point from which we started in our survey of classical science and magic in order to trace the development of Christian thought in regard to the same subjects. How far did Christianity break with ancient science and superstition? To what ex- tent did it borrow from them ? It has often been remarked that, as a new religion comes Magic and to prevail in a society, the old rites are discredited and pro- I'^ligion- hibited as magic. The faith and ceremonies of the majority, performed publicly, are called religion : the discarded cult, now practiced only privately and covertly by a minority, is stigmatized as magic and contrary to the general good. Thus we shall hear Christian writers condemn the pagan oracles and auguries as arts of divination, and classify the ancient gods as demons of the same sort as those invoked in the magic arts. Conversely, when a new religion is being introduced, is as yet regarded as a foreign faith, and is still only the private worship of a minority, the majority regard it as outlandish magic. And this we shall find illus- trated by the accusations of sorcery and magic heaped upon Jesus by the Jews, and upon the Jews and the early Chris- tians by a world long accustomed to pagan rites. The same bandying back and forth of the charge of magic occurred be- tween Mohammed and the Meccans.^ It is perhaps generally assumed that the men of the mid- Relation die ages were widely read in and deeply influenced ^^j-iy by the fathers of the early church, but at least for our sub- Christiaji 1 • 1 1 11 ^"^ medie- ject this influence has hardly been treated either broadly or val litera- *Sir William Muir, "Ancient Arabic Poetry, its Genuineness ^^^' and Authenticity," in Royal Asiatic Society's Journal (1882), p. 30. 337 338 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE fore- Method of presenting early Christian thought. in detail. Indeed, the predilection of the humanists of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries for anything written in Greek and their aversion to medieval Latin has too long operated as a bar to the study of medieval literature in gen- eral. And scholars who have edited or studied the Greek, Syriac, and other ancient texts connected with early Chris- tianity have perhaps too often neglected the Latin versions preserved in medieval manuscripts, or, while treasuring up every hint that Photius lets fall, have failed to note the cita- tions and allusions in medieval Latin encyclopedists. Yet it is often the case that the manuscripts containing the Latin versions are of earlier date than those which seem to pre- serve the Greek original text. There is so much repetition and resemblance between the numerous Christian writers in Greek and Latin of the Ro- man Empire that I have even less than in the case of their classical contemporaries attempted a complete presentation of them, but, while not intending to omit any account of the first importance in the history of magic or experimental sci- ence, have aimed to make a selection of representative per- sons and typical passages. At the same time, in the case of those authors and works which are discussed, the aim is to present their thought in sufficiently specific detail to enable the reader to estimate for himself their scientific or superstitious character and their relations to classical thought on the one hand and medieval thought on the other. Before we treat of Christian writings themselves it is essential to notice some related lines of thought and groups of writings which either preceded or accompanied the devel- opment of Christian thought and literature, and which either influenced even orthodox thought powerfully, or illustrate foreign elements, aberrations, side-currents, and undertows which none the less cannot be disregarded in tracing the main current of Christian belief. We therefore shall suc- cessively treat of the literature extant under the name of Enoch, of the works of Philo Judaeus, of the doctrines of the Gnostics, of the Christian Apocrypha, of the Pseudo- WORD BOOK II, FOREWORD 339 Clementines and Simon Magus, and of the Confession of Cyprian and some similar stories. We shall then make Origen's Reply to Celsus, in which the conflict of classical and Christian conceptions is well illustrated, our point of departure in an examination of the attitude of the early fathers towards magic and science. Succeeding chapters will treat of the attitude toward magic of other fathers before Augustine, of Christianity and natural science as shown in Basil's Hexaemeron, Epiphanius' Panarion, and the Physio- logus, and of Augustine himself. A final chapter on the fusion of paganism and Christianity in the fourth and fifth centuries will terminate this second division of our investi- gation and also serve as a supplement to the preceding divi- sion and an introduction to the third book on the early mid- dle ages. Our arrangement is thus in part topical rather than strictly chronological. The dates of many authors and works are too dubious, there is too much of the apocryphal and interpolated, and we have to rely too much upon later writers for the views of earlier ones, to make a strictly or even primarily chronological arrangement either advisable or feasible. CHAPTER XIII THE BOOK OF ENOCH Enoch's reputation as an astrologer in the middle ages. Enoch's reputation as an astrologer in the middle ages — Date and influence of the literature ascribed to Enoch — Angels governing the universe ; stars and angels — The fallen angels teach men magic and other arts — The stars as sinners — Effect of sin upon nature — Celestial phenomena — Mountains and metals — Strange animals. In collections of medieval manuscripts there often is found a treatise on fifteen stars, fifteen herbs, fifteen stones, and fifteen figures engraved upon them, which is attributed some- times to Hermes, presumably Trismegistus, and sometimes to Enoch, the patriarch, who "walked with God and was not."^ Indeed in the prologue to a Hermetic work on astrol- ogy in a medieval manuscript we are told that Enoch and the first of the three Hermeses or Mercuries are identical.^ This * Ascribed to Enoch in Harleian MS 1612, fol. I5r, Incipit: "Enoch tanquam unus ex phi- losophis super res quartum librum edidit, in quo voluit determinare ista quatuor : videlicet de xv stellis, de xv herbis, de xv lapidi- bus preciosis et de xv figuris ipsis lapidibus sculpendis," and Wolfenbiittel 2725, 14th century, fols. 83-94V; BN 13014, 14th cen- tury, fol. 174V; Amplon, Quarto 381 (Erfurt), 14th century, fols. 42-45 : for "Enoch's prayer" see Sloane MS 3821, 17th century, fols. 190V-193. Ascribed to Hermes in Harleian 80, Sloane 3847, Royal 12-C- XVni; Berlin 963, fol. 105; Vienna 5216, 15th century, fols. 63r-66v; "Dixit Enoch quod 15 sunt stelle / ex tractatu Here- meth (i- e. Hermes) et enoch compilatum" ; and in the Cata- logue of Amplonius (1412 A.D.), Math. 53. See below, H, 220-21. The stars are probably fifteen in number because Ptolemy distin- guished that many stars of first magnitude. Dante, Paradiso, XHI, 4, also speaks of "quindici stelle." See Orr (1913), pp. 154-6, where Ptolemy's descriptions of the fif- teen stars of first magnitude and their modern names are given. *Digby 67, late 12th century, fol. 69r, "Prologus de tribiis Mercuriis." They are also identi- fied by other medieval writers. Some would further identify with Enoch Nannacus or Anna- cus, king of Phrygia, who fore- saw Deucalion's flood and la- mented. See J. G. Frazer (1918), I, 155-6, and P. Buttmann, Myth- ologus, Berlin, 1828- 1829, and E. Babelon, La tradition phrygienne du deluge, in Rev. d. I hist. d. religs., XXHI (1891), which he cites. Roger Bacon stated that some would identify Enoch with "the 340 CHAP. XIII THE BOOK OF ENOCH 341 treatise probably has no direct relation to the Book of Enoch, which we shall discuss in this chapter and which was composed in the pre-Christian period. But it is inter- esting to observe that the same reputation for astrology, which led the middle ages sometimes to ascribe this treatise to Enoch, is likewise found in "the first notice of a book of Enoch," which "appears to be due to a Jewish or Samaritan Hellenist," which "has come down to us successively through Alexander Polyhistor and Eusebius," and which states that Enoch was the founder of astrology.^ The statement in Genesis that Enoch lived three hundred and sixty-five years would also lead men to associate him with the solar year and stars. The Book of Enoch is "the precipitate of a literature. Date and once very active, which revolved . . . round Enoch," and of ^j^g in the form which has come down to us is a patchwork from 'iterature ascribed "several originally independent books." ^ It is extant in the to Enoch. form of Greek fragments preserved in the Chronography of G. Syncellus,^ or but lately discovered in (Upper) Egypt, and in more complete but also more recent manuscripts giv- ing an Ethiopic and a Slavonic version.^ These last two versions are quite different both in language and content, while some of the citations of Enoch in ancient writers apply to neither of these versions. While "Ethiopic did not exist as a literary language before 350 A. D.," ^ and none great Hermogenes, whom the Greeks much commend and laud, and they ascribe to him all secret and celestial science." Steele (1920) 99. 'R. H. Charles, The Book of Enoch, Oxford, 1893, p. 33, citing Euseb. Praep. Evan., ix, 17, 8 (Gaisford). * Charles (1893), p. 10, citing Ewald. *ed. Dindorf, 1829. * Lods, Ad. Le Livre d'Henoch, Fragments grecs decouverts a Akhmin, Paris, 1892. Charles, R. H., The Book of Enoch, Oxford, 1893, "translated from Professor Dillman's Ethi- opic text, amended and revised in accordance with hitherto uncol- lated Ethiopic manuscripts and with the Gizeh and other Greek and Latin fragments, which are here published in full." The Book of EnocJi, translated anezv, etc., Oxford, 1912. Also translated in Charles (1913) II, 163-281. There are twenty-nine Ethiopic MSS of Enoch. Charles, R. H., and Morfill, W. R., The Book of the Secrets of Enoch, translated from the Sla- vonic, Oxford, 1896. Also by Forbes and Charles in Charles (1913) II. 425-69. "Charles (1893), p. 22. 342 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. of the extant manuscripts of the Ethiopic version is earlier than the fifteenth century/ Charles believes that they are based upon a Greek translation of the Hebrew and Aramaic original, and that even the interpolations in this were made by an editor living before the Christian era. He asserts that **nearly all the writers of the New Testament were familiar with it," and influenced by it, — in fact that its influence on the New Testament was greater than that of all the other apocrypha together, and that it "had all the weight of a canonical book" with the early church fathers.^ After 300 A. D., however, it became discredited, except as we have seen among Ethiopic and Slavonic Christians. Be- fore 300 Origen in his Reply to Celsus ^ accuses his opponent of quoting the Book of Enoch as a Christian au- thority concerning the fallen angels. Origen objects that "the books which bear the name Enoch do not at all circu- late in the Churches as divine." Augustine, in the City of God,'^ written between 413 and 426, admits that Enoch "left some divine writings, for this is asserted by the Apostle Jude in his canonical epistle." But he doubts if any of the writings current in his own day are genuine and thinks that they have been wisely excluded from the course of Scripture. Lods writes that after the ninth century in the east and from a much earlier date in the west, the Book of Enoch is not mentioned, "At the most some medieval rabbis seem still to know of it." ^ Yet Alexander Neckam, in the twelfth century, speaks as if Latin Christendom of that date had some acquaintance with the Enoch literature. We shall note some passages in Saint Hildegard which seem parallel to others in the Book of Enoch, while Vincent of Beauvais in his Speculum naturale in the thirteenth century, in justify- ing a certain discriminating use of the apocryphal books, points out that Jude quotes Enoch whose book is now called apocryphal.^ 'Charles (1913), II, 165-6. "Introd., vi. ' Charles (1893), pp. 2 and 41- "Spec. Nat., I, g. A Latin frag- • v., 54. ment, found in the British Museum * XV, 23. in 1893 by Dr. M. R. James and XIII THE BOOK OF ENOCH 343 The Enoch literature has much to say concerning angels, Angels and implies their control of nature, man, and the future. fhJ^uni"^ We hear of Raphael, "who is set over all the diseases and verse: wounds of the children of men"; Gabriel, "who is set over angels, all the powers" ; Phanuel, "who is set over the repentance and hope of those who inherit eternal life." ^ The revolution of the stars is described as "according to the number of the angels," and in the Slavonic version the number of those angels is stated as two hundred.^ Indeed the stars them- selves are often personified and we read "how they keep faith with each other" and even of "all the stars whose privy members are like those of horses." ^ The Ethiopic version also speaks of the angels or spirits of hoar-frost, dew, hail, snow and so forth.* In the Slavonic version Enoch finds in the sixth heaven the angels who attend to the phases of the moon and the revolutions of stars and sun and who superintend the good or evil condition of the world. He finds angels set over the years and seasons, the rivers and sea, the fruits of the earth, and even an angel over every herb.^ The fallen angels in particular are mentioned in the Book The fallen of Enoch. Two hundred angels lusted after the comely f"^?|^ •' o J teach men daughters of men and bound themselves by oaths to marry magic and them.^ After having thus taken unto themselves wives, they instructed the human race in the art of magic and the science of botany — or to be more exact, "charms and enchantments" and "the cutting of roots and of woods." In another chap- ter various individual angels are named who taught respec- tively the enchanters and botanists, the breaking of charms, astrology, and various branches thereof."^ In the Greek frag- ment preserved by Syncellus there are further mentioned pharmacy, and what probably denote geomancy ("sign of published in the Cambridge Texts ^ Book of Enoch, XLIII; XC, and Studies, II, 3, Apocrypha 21. Anecdota, pp. 146-50, "seems to * Ibid., LX, 17-18. point to a Latin translation of ^Secrets of Enoch, XIX. Enoch"— Charles (1913) H, 167. 'Caps. VI-XI in both Lods and ^ Book of Enoch, XL, 9. Charles. * Ibid.,y.U.ll; Secrets of Enoch. 'Book of Enoch, VIII, 3, in IV. both Charles and Lods. 344 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. the earth") and aeromancy {aeroskopia). Through this revelation of mysteries which should have been kept hid we are told that men "know all the secrets of the angels, and all the violence of the Satans, and all their occult power, and all the power of those who practice sorcery, and the power of witchcraft, and the power of those who make molten images for the whole earth." ^ The revelation included, moreover, not only magic arts, witchcraft, divination, and astrology, but also natural sciences, such as botany and pharmacy — which, however, are apparently regarded as closely akin to magic — and useful arts such as mining metals, manufacturing armor and weapons, and "writing with ink and paper" — "and thereby many sinned from eternity to eternity and until this day." ^ As the preceding remark in- dicates, the author is decidedly of the opinion that men were not created to the end that they should write with pen and ink. "For man was created exactly like the angels to the intent that he should continue righteous and pure, . . . but through this their knowledge men are perishing." ^ Perhaps the writer means to censure writing as magical and thinks of it only as mystic signs and characters. Magic is always regarded as evil in the Enoch literature, and witch- craft, enchantments, and "devilish magic" are given a promi- nent place in a list in the Slavonic version ^ of evil deeds done upon earth. In connection with the fallen angels we find the stars regarded as capable of sin as well as personified. In the Ethiopic version there is more than one mention of seven stars that transgressed the command of God and are bound against the day of judgment or for the space of ten thou- sand years. ^ One passage tells how "judgment was held first over the stars, and they were judged and found guilty, and went to the place of condemnation, and they were cast into an abyss." ^ A similar identification of the stars with the fallen angels is found in one of the visions of Saint "■Book of Enoch, LXV, 6. * Secrets of Enoch, X. 'Ibid., LXV, 7-8; LXIX, 6-9. ^ Book of Enoch, XVIII, XXL *Ibid., LXIX, lo-ii. "Ibid., XC, 24. xiii THE BOOK OF ENOCH 345 Hildegard in the twelfth century. She writes, "I saw a great star most splendid and beautiful, and with it an ex- ceeding multitude of falling sparks which with the star followed southward. And they examined Him upon His throne almost as something hostile, and turning from Him, they sought rather the north. And suddenly they were all annihilated, being turned into black coals . . . and cast into the abyss that I could see them no more." ^ She then in- terprets the vision as signifying the fall of the angels. An idea which we shall find a number of times in other Effect of ancient and medieval writers appears also in the Book of nature. Enoch. It is that human sin upsets the world of nature, and in this particular case, even the period of the moon and the orbits of the stars." Hildegard again roughly parallels the Enoch literature by holding that the original harmony of the four elements upon this earth was changed into a confused and disorderly mixture after the fall of man.^ The natural world, although intimately associated with Celestial the spiritual world and hardly distinguished from it in the phenomena Enoch literature, receives considerable attention, and much of the discussion in both the Ethiopic and Slavonic versions is of a scientific rather than ethical or apocalyptic character. One section of the Ethiopic version is described by Charles * as the Book of Celestial Physics and upholds a calendar based upon the lunar year. The Slavonic version, on the other hand, while mentioning the lunar year of 354 days and the solar year of 365 and ^ days, seems to prefer the latter, since the years of Enoch's life are given as 365, and he writes 366 books concerning what he has seen in his visions and voyages.^ The Book of Enoch supposes a plurality of heavens.*' In the Slavonic version Enoch is * Singer's translation. Studies " See Morfill-Charles, pp. xxxiv- in the History and Method of xxxv, for mention of three and Science, Vol. I, p. 53, of Scivias, seven heavens in the apocryphal III, I, in Migne, PL, 197, 565. See Testaments of the Twelve Patri- also the Koran XV, 18. archs, "written about or before ^ Charles, p. 32 and cap. LXXX. the beginning of the Christian * Singer, 25-26. era," and for "the probability of *Pp. 187-219. an Old Testament belief in the ^Secrets of Enoch, I and XXX. plurality of the heavens." For the 346 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Mountains and metals. taken through the seven heavens, or ten heavens in one manu- script, with the signs of the zodiac in the eighth and ninth. An account is also given of the creation, and the waters above the firmament, which were to give the early Christian apolo- gists and medieval clerical scientists so much difficulty, are described as follows : "And thus I made firm the waters, that is, the depths, and I surrounded the waters with light, and I created seven circles, and I fashioned them like crystal, moist and dry, that is to say, like glass and ice, and as for the waters and also the other elements I showed each of them their paths, (viz.) to the seven stars, each of them in their heaven, how they should go." ^ The order of the seven planets in their circles is given as follows: in the first and highest circle the star Kruno, then Aphrodite or Venus, Ares (Mars), the sun, Zeus (Jupiter), Hermes (Mercury), and the moon.^ God also tells Enoch that the duration of the world will be for a week of years, that is, seven thousand, after which "let there be at the beginning of the eighth thousand a time when there is no computation and no end ; neither years nor months nor weeks nor days nor hours." ^ Turning from celestial physics to terrestrial phenomena, we may note a few allusions to minerals, vegetation, and -animals. "Seven mountains of magnificent stones" are more than once mentioned in the Ethiopic version and are described as each different from the other.* Another pas- sage speaks of "seven mountains full of choice nard and aromatic trees and cinnamon and pepper." ° But whether seven heavens in the apocryphal Ascension of Isaiah see Charles' edition of that virork (igoo), xlix. ^Secrets of Enoch, XXVII. Charles prefaces this passage by the remark, "I do not pretend to understand what follows" : but it seems clear that the waters above the firmament are referred to from what the author goes on to say, "And thus I made firm the circles of the heavens, and caused the waters below which are under the heavens to be gathered into one place." It would also seem that each of the seven planets is rep- resented as moving in a sphere of crystal. In the Ethiopic version, LIV, 8, we are told that the water above the heavens is masculine, and that the water beneath the earth is feminine ; also LX, 7-8, that Leviathan is female and Behemoth male. 'Secrets of Enoch, XXX. ^ Ibid., 45-46, see also the Ethi- opic Book of Enoch, XCIII, for "seven weeks." *Book of Enoch, XVIII, XXIV. ''Ibid., XXXII. XIII THE BOOK OF ENOCH 347 these groups of seven mountains are to be astrologically related to the seven planets is not definitely stated. We are also left in doubt whether the following passage may have some astrological or even alchemical significance, or whether it is merely a figurative prophecy like that in the Book of Daniel concerning the image seen by Nebuchadnezzar in his dream. "There mine eyes saw all the hidden things of heaven that shall be, an iron mountain, and one of copper, and one of silver, and one of gold, and one of soft metal, and one of lead." ^ At any rate Enoch has come very near to listing the seven metals usually associated with the seven planets. In another passage we are informed that while silver and "soft metal" come from the earth, lead and tin are produced by a fountain in which an eminent angel stands.^ As for animals we are informed that Behemoth is male Strange and Leviathan female.^ When Enoch went to the ends of the earth he saw there great beasts and birds who differed in appearance, beauty, and voice.* In the Slavonic version we hear a good deal of phoenixes and chalky dri, who seem to be flying dragons. These creatures are described as "strange in appearance with the feet and tails of lions and the heads of crocodiles. Their appearance was of a purple color like the rainbow; their size, nine hundred measures. Their wings were like those of angels, each with twelve, and they attend the chariot of the sun, and go with him, bringing heat and dew as they are ordered by God." ^ "■Book of Enoch, LII, 2. * Ibid., XXXIII. ^Ibid., LXV, 7-8. "Secrets of Enoch, XII, XV, 'Ibid., LX, 7. XIX. CHAPTER XIV PHILO JUDAEUS Bibliographical note — Philo the mediator between Hellenistic and Jewish-Christian thought — His influence upon the middle ages was indirect — Good and bad magic — Stars not gods nor first causes — But rational and virtuous animals, and God's viceroys over inferiors — They do not cause evil; but it is possible to predict the future from their motions — Jewish astrology — Perfection of the number seven — And of fifty — Also of four and six — Spirits of the air — Interpretation of dreams — Politics are akin to magic — A thought repeated by Moses Maimonides and Albertus Magnus. ^'But since every city in which laws are properly estab- lished has a regular constitution, it became necessary for this citizen of the world to adopt the same constitution as that which prevailed in the universal world. And this con- stitution is the right reason of nature." — On Creation, cap. 50. There probably Is no other man who marks so well the fusion of Hellenic and Hebrew ideas and the transition from them to Christian thought as Philo Judaeus.^ He flourished at Alexandria in the first years of our era — the exact dates both of his birth and of his death are un- certain— and speaks of himself as an old man at the time of * The literature dealing in gen- eral with Philo and his philosophy is too extensive to indicate here, while there has been no study primarily devoted to our interest in him. It may be useful to note, however, the most recent editions of his works and studies concern- ing him, from which the reader can learn of earlier researches. See also Leopold Cohn, The Latest Researches on Philo of Alexandria (Reprinted from The Jewish Quarterly Review), Lon- don, 1892. The most recent edi- tion of the Greek text of Philo's works is by L. Cohn and P. Wend- land, Philonis Alexandrini opera quae supcrsunt, Berlin, 1896-1915, in six vols. The earlier edition was by Mangey. Recent editions of single works are : F. C. Cony- beare, Philo about the Contempla- tive Life, critically edited with a defence of its genuineness, 1895. E. Brehier, Commentaire alle- gorique des Saintes Lois apres l'a:uvre des six jours, Greek and 348 CHAP. XIV PHILO JUDAEUS 349 his participation in the embassy of Jews to the Emperor Gaius or CaHguIa in 40 A. D. He repeats the doctrines of the Greek philosophers and anticipates much that the church fathers discuss. Before the Neo-Platonists he re- gards matter as the source of all evil and feels the necessity of mediators, angels or demons, between God and man. Before the medieval revival of Aristotle and natural phi- losophy he tries to reconcile the Mosaic account of creation with belief in a world soul, and monotheism with astrology. Before the rise of Christian monasticism he describes in his treatise On the Contemplative Life an ascetic community of Therapeutae at Lake Maerotis.^ After Pythagoras he enlarges upon the mystic significance of numbers. After Plato he repeats the conception of an ideal city of God French, 1909. In the passages from Philo quoted in this chapter I have often availed myself of the wording of the English translation by C. D. Yonge in four vols., 1854-1855. The Latin translation of Philo's works made from the Greek by Lilius Tifernates for Popes Sixtus IV and Innocent VIII is preserved at the Vatican in a series of six MSS written during the years 1479-1484: Vatic. Lat., 180-185. J. d'Alma, Philon d'Alexandrie et le quatricme Evangile, 1910. N. Bentwich, Philo-Judaeus of Alexandria, 1910 (a small general book). T. H. Billings, The Platonism of Philo Judaeiis, 1919. W. Bousset, JUdisch-Christlicher Schulbetrieb in Alexandria und Rom, 1915. E. Brehier, Les I dees philo so- phiques et religieuscs de Philon dAlexandrie, 1908, a scholarly work with a ten- page bibliography. M. Caraccio, Filone dAlessa'ndria e le sue opere, 191 1, a brief indication of the contents of each work. K. S. Guthrie, The Message of Philo Judaeus, 1910, popular. H. Guyot, Les Reminiscences de Philon le Juif che:: Plotin, 1906. P. Heinsch, Der EinHuss Philos auf die dlteste christliche Exegese, 1908, 296 pp. H. A. A. Kennedy, Philo's contri- bution to Religion, 1919. J. Martin, Philon, 1907, with a five-page bibliography. L. H. Mills, Zarathustra, Philo, the Achaemenids and Israel, 190S, 460 pp. L. Treitel, Philonische Studicn, 1915, is of limited scope. H. Windisch, Die Frommigkeit Philos u>id ihrc Bcdeutung filr das Christcntutn, 1909. * The genuineness of this trea- tise, denied by Graetz and Lucius in the mid-nineteenth century, was amply demonstrated by L. Mas- sebieau, Revue de I'Histoire des Religions, XVI (1887), 170-98, 284-319; Conybeare, Philo about the Contemplative Life, Oxford, 1895 ; and P. Wendland, Die Thcrapeuten und die Philonische Schrift vom Bcschaulichen Leben, in Jahrb. f. Class. Philologie, Band 22 (1896), 693-770. In St. John's College Library, Oxford, in a manuscript of the early eleventh century (MS 128, fol. 215 fif) with Dionysius the Areopagite on the ecclesiastical hierarchy, is, Philonis de excir- cumcisione credentibus in Aegyp- to Christianis simul et monachis ex suprascripto ab eo sermone de vita theorica aut de orantibus. 350 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. which was to gain such a hold upon Christian imagination.^ After the Stoics he proclaims the doctrine of the law of nature, holds that the institution of human slavery is abso- lutely contrary to it, and writes "a treatise to prove that every virtuous man is free" and that to be virtuous is to live in conformity to nature.^ He had previously written another treatise designed to show that "every wicked man "was a slave," ^ and he held a theory which we met in the Enoch literature and shall meet again in a number of subse- quent writers that sin was punished naturally by forces of nature such as floods and thunderbolts. He did not orig- inate the practice of allegorical interpretation of the Bible but he is our first great extant example thereof. He even went so far as to regard the tree of life and the story of the serpent tempting Eve as purely symbolical, an attitude which found little favor with Christian writers.* His effort by means of the allegorical method to find in the books of the Pentateuch all the attractive concepts and theories which he had learned from the Greeks became later in the Christian apologists an assertion that Plato and Pythagoras had borrowed their doctrines from Abraham and Moses. His doctrine of the logos had a powerful influence upon the writers of the New Testament and the theology of the early church,^ Yet Philo afflrms that no more perfect good than philosophy exists in human life and in both literary style and erudition he is a Hellene to his very finger tips. The recent tendency, seen especially in German scholarship, to deny the writers of the Roman Empire any capacity for original thought and to trace back their ideas to unextant authors of a supposedly much more productive Hellenistic age has perhaps been carried too far. But if we may not regard Philo as a great originator, and it is evident that he borrowed many of his ideas, he was at any rate a great ^ De mundi opificio, caps. 49 is not extant, and 50. * De mundi opiAcio, caps. 54 ' On the Contemplative Life, and 55. Chapter 9. " Reville, J., Le logos, d'apres * So he states in the opening Philon d'Alexandrie, Geneve, 1877. ientences of the other treatise; it XIV PHILO JUDAEUS 351 transmitter of thought, a mediator after his own heart be- tween Jews and Greeks, and between them both and the Christian writers to come. Standing at the close of the Hellenistic age and at the opening of the Roman period, he occupies in the history of speculative and theological thought an analogous position to that of Pliny the Elder in the his- tory of natural science, gathering up the lore of the past, perhaps improving it with some additions of his own, and exercising a profound influence upon the age to come. Philo's medieval influence, however, was probably more His influ- indirect than Pliny's and passed itself on through yet other the niiddle mediators to the more remote times. Comparatively speak- ages was ing, the Natural History of Pliny probably was more impor- tant in the middle ages than in the early Roman Empire when other authorities prevailed in the Greek-speaking world. Philo's influence on the other hand must soon be transmitted through Christian, and then again through Latin, mediums. This is indicated by the fact that to-day many of his works are wholly lost or extant only in fragments ^ or in Armenian versions,^ and that we have no sure infor- mation as to the order in which they were composed.^ But his initial force is none the less of the greatest moment, and seems amply sufficient to justify us in selecting his writings as one of our starting points. The extent to which one is apt to find in the writings of Philo passages which are fore- runners of the statements of subsequent writers, may be illustrated by the familiar story of King Canute and the tide. Philo in his work On Dreams ■* speaks of the custom of the Germans of charging the incoming tide with their drawn swords. But what especially concern us are Philo's * Lincoln College, Oxford, has a perfect Latin version, is not re- I2th century MS in Greek of the garded as a genuine work, — see De vita Mosis and De virtutibus, W. O. E. Oesterley and G. H. — MS 34. Box, The Biblical Antiquities of 'The Alexander sive de animali- Philo, now first translated from bus and the complete text of the the old Latin version by M. R. De providentia exist only in James (1917), p. 7. Armenian translation, — see Cohn ' Cohn (1892), 11. (1892), p. 16. The Biblical An- *ll, 17. tiquities, extant only in an im- 352 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. statements concerning magic, astrology, the stars, the per- fection and power of numbers, demons, and the interpreta- tion of dreams. Philo draws a distinction between magic in the good and bad sense. The former and true magical art is the lore of learned Persians called Magi who investigate nature more minutely and deeply than is usual and explain divine virtues clearly.^ The latter magic is a spurious imitation of the other, practised by quacks and impostors, old-wives and slaves, who by means of incantations and the like procedure profess to change men from love to hatred or vice versa and who "deceive unsuspecting persons and waste whole families away by degrees and without making any noise." It is to this adulterated and evil magic that Philo again refers when he likens political life to Joseph's coat of many colors, stained with the blood of wars, and in which a very little truth is mixed up with a great deal of sophistry akin to that of the augurs, ventriloquists, sorcerers, jugglers and enchanters, "from whose treacherous arts it is very difficult to escape." ^ This distinction between a magic of the wise and of nature and that of vulgar impostors is one which we shall find in many subsequent writers, although it was not recognized by Pliny. Philo also antecedes numerous Christian commentators upon the Book of Numbers ^ in considering the vexed question whether Balaam was an evil enchanter and diviner, or a divine prophet, or whether he combined magic and prophecy, and thus indicated that the former art is not evil but has divine approval. Philo's con- clusion is the more usual one that Balaam was a celebrated diviner and magician, and that it is impossible that "holy inspiration should be combined with magic," but that in the particular case of his blessing Israel the spirit of divine ^ (Quod omnis probus liber sit, a number of other passages of the cap. xi) ; also The Law Concern- Bible: Deut.. XXIII, 3-6; Joshua, ing Murderers, cap. 4. XIII, 22; XXIV, 9-10; Nehemiah, 'On Dreams, I, 38. XIII, iflf; Micah, VI, 5; Second * Numbers XXII-XXV. Ba- Peter, II, 15-16; Jude, 11 ; Revela- laam is, of course, referred to in tion, II, 14. XIV PHILO JUDAEUS 353 prophecy took possession of him and "drove all his artificial system of cunning divination out of his soul." ^ Philo has considerably more to say upon the subject of stars not astrology than upon that of magic. He was especially con- so^s nor cerned to deny that the stars were first causes or independent causes, gods. He chided the Chaldean adepts in genethlialogy for recognizing no other god than the universe and no other causes than those apparent to the senses, and for regarding fate and necessity as gods and the periodical revolutions of the heavenly bodies as the cause of all good and evil." Philo more than once exhorts the reader to follow Abraham's example in leaving Chaldea and the science of genethlialogy and coming to Charran to a comprehension of the true nature of God.^ He agreed with Moses that the stars should not be worshiped and that they had been created by God, and more than that, not created until the fourth day, in order that it might be perfectly clear to men that they were not the primary causes of things.* Philo, nevertheless, despite his attack on the Chaldeans, But believed in much which we should call astrological. The national . . . and virtu- stars, although not mdependent gods, are nevertheless divine ous ani- images of surpassing beauty and possess divine natures, al- GocTs vice- though they are not incorporeal beings. Philo distinguishes foys over between the stars, men, and other animals as follows. The beasts are capable of neither virtue nor vice; human beings are capable of both; the stars are intelligent animals, but incapable of any evil and wholly virtuous.^ They were native-born citizens of the world long before its first human citizen had been naturalized.^ God, moreover, did not post- * Vita Mosis, I, 48-50. Besides bus and Ilept rov deoTrkfiirTovs elvai discussion of Balaam in various rovs ovfipovs. Biblical commentaries, diction- ^ Ibid., Cap. 50. Huet, the noted aries, and encyclopedias, see Heng- French scholar of the 17th cen- stenberg, Die Geschichte Bileams tury, states in his edition of und seine Weissagungen, 1842. Origen that "Philo after his cus- ^De migrat. Abrahanii, cap. 2^. torn repeats an opinion of Plato's ^ Idem, and De somiiiis, cap. 10. and almost his very words for * De monarchia, I, i. De muiidi ... he asserts that the stars are opiUcio, cap. 14. not only animals but also the '^ De mundi opiUcio, caps. 18, 50 purest intellects." Migne PG, and 24. See also his De giganti- XVII, col. 978. 354 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. They do not cause evil : but it is possible to predict the future from their motions. Jewish astrology. pone their creation until the fourth day because superiors are subject to inferiors. On the contrary they are the vice- roys of the Father of all and in the vast city of this universe the ruling class is made up of the planets and fixed stars, and the subject class consists of all the natures beneath the moon.^ A relation of natural sympathy exists between the different parts of the universe, and all things upon the earth are dependent upon the stars. ^ Philo of course will not admit that evil is caused either by the virtuous stars or by God working through them. As has been said, he attributed evil to matter or to "the natural changes of the elements," ^ drawing a line between God and nature in much the fashion of the church fathers later. But he granted that "before now some men have conjectu- rally predicted disturbances and commotions of the earth from the revolutions of the heavenly bodies, and innumerable other events which have turned out most exactly true." ^ Philo's interest in astronomy and astrology is further sug- gested by his interpretation of the eleven stars of Joseph's dream as referring to the signs of the zodiac,^ Joseph him- self making the twelfth; and by his interpreting the ladder in Jacob's dream which stretched between earth and heaven as referring to the air,^ into which earth's evaporations dis- solve, while the moon is not pure ether like the other stars but itself contains some air. This accounts, Philo thinks, for the spots upon the moon — an explanation which I do not remember having met in subsequent writers. Josephus '^ and the Jews in general of Philo's time were equally devoted to astrology according to Miinter, who says : "Only their astrology was subordinated to theism. The one God always appeared as the master of the host of heaven. But they regarded the stars as living divine beings and ^ De monarchia, I, i ; De mundi opiRcio, cap. 14. ^ De monarchia, I, i; Dc migra- tione Abrahamij cap. 32; De mundi opiUcio, cap. 40. * Eusebius, De praep. Evang., cap. 13. * De mundi opiUcio, cap. 19. ^ De somniis, II, 16. 'Ibid., I, 22. 'De hello Jud., V, 5, 5; Antiq., III. 7, 7-8. XIV PHILO JUDAEUS 355 powers of heaven." ^ In the Talmud later we read that the hour of Abraham's birth was announced by the stars and that he feared from his observations of the constella- tions that he would go childless. Miinter also gives examples of the belief of the rabbis in the influence of the stars upon the destiny of the Jewish people and upon the fate of indi- vidual men, and of their belief that a star would announce the coming of the Messiah.^ From Philo's astrology it is an easy step to his frequent Perfection reveries concerning the perfection and mystic significance number of certain numbers, — a train of thought which was continued seven, by many of the church fathers, and is also found in various pagan writers of the Roman Empire.^ Thomas Browne in his enquiry into "Vulgar Errors" ^ was inclined to hold Philo even more responsible than Pythagoras or Plato for the dissemination of such doctrines. Philo himself recognizes the close connection between astrolog}' and number mys- ticism, when, after affirming the dependence of all earthly things upon the heavenly bodies, he adds : "It is in heaven, too, that the ratio of the number seven began." ^ Philo doubts if it is possible to express adequately the glories of the number seven, but he feels that he ought at least to attempt it and devotes a dozen chapters of his treatise on the creation of the world to it,^ to say nothing of other pas- sages. He notes that there are seven planets, seven circles of heaven, four quarters of the moon of seven days each, that such constellations as the Pleiades and Ursa Major consist of seven stars, and that children born at the end of ^ Der Stern der Weisen (1827), p. 36. "Nur war ihre Astrologie dem Theismus untergeordnet. Der Eine Gott erschien immer als der Herrscher des Himmelsheeres. Sie betrachteten aber die Sterne als lebende gottliche Wesen und Machte des Himmels." 'Miinter (1827), pp. 38-39, 43, 45, etc. On the subject of Jewish astrology see also : D. Nielsen, Die altarabische Mondreligion und '^'^ mosaische Uberlieferung, Strasburg, 1904; F. Hommel, Der Gcstirndienst der alien Araber und die altisraelitische Uberlie- ferung, Munich, 1901. ' Such as Aulus Gellius, Mac- robius, and Censorinus. These writers seem to have taken it from Varro. We have also noted num- ber mysticism in Plutarch's Es- says. * Browne (1650) IV, 12. ^ De mimdi opificio, cap. 40. ^ Ibid., caps. 30-42. 356 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. seven months live, while those who see the light in the eighth month die. In diseases the seventh is a critical day. Also there are either seven ages of man's life, as Hippocrates says, or, in accordance with Solon's lines, man's three-score years and ten may be subdivided into ten periods of seven years each. The lyre of seven strings corresponds to the seven planets, and in speech there are seven vowels. There are seven divisions of the head — eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouth, seven divisions of the body, seven kinds of motion, seven things seen, and even the senses are seven rather than five if we add the vocal and generative organs.^ Philo's ideal sect, the Therapeutae, are wont to assemble as a prelude to their greatest feast at the end of seven weeks, "venerating not only the simple week of seven days but also its multiplied power," ^ but the chief festival itself occurs on the fiftieth day, "the most holy and natural of numbers, being compounded of the power of the right- angled triangle, which is the principle of the origination and condition of the whole." ^ The numbers four and six, however, yield little to seven and fifty in the matter of perfection. It was the fourth day that God chose for the creation of the heavenly bodies, and He did not need six days for the entire work of crea- tion, but it was fitting that that perfect work should be accomplished in a perfect number of days. Six is the product of the first female number, two, and the first male number, three. Indeed, the first three numbers, one, two, and three, whether added or multiplied, give six.^ As for four, there are that many elements and seasons ; it is the only number produced by the same number — two — whether added to ^ For the later influence of such having the superior dignity of doctrines in the Mohammedan Prophet. The last of the forty- world see D. B. Macdonald, Mus- nine Imans, this Muhammad ibn lini Theology, Jurisprudence, and Isma'il, is the greatest and last of Constitutional Theory, 1903, pp. the Prophets." 42-3. concerning the "Seveners" 3^^ ^-^^ contemplativa, cap. 8. and the Twelvers and the doc- j^ ^jjj ^^ recalled that the fifty t","?. of the hidden Iman. _ ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^. ^^ Justinian Ilnd., Thus we have a series ^^^ similarly divided. of seven times seven Imans, the first, and thereafter each seventh, * De mundi opificio, cap. 3. XIV PHILO JUDAEUS 357 itself or multiplied by itself ; it is the first square and as such the emblem of justice and equality; it also represents the cube or solid, as the number one stands for a point, two for a line, and three for a surface.^ Furthermore four is the source of "the all-perfect decade," since one and two and three and four make ten. At this we begin to suspect, and with considerable justification, as the writings of other dev- otees of the philosophy of numbers would show, that the number of perfect numbers is legion. We may not, how- ever, follow Philo much farther on this topic. Suffice it to add that he finds the fifth day fitting for the creation of animals possessed of five senses,^ while he divides the ten plagues of Egypt into three dealing with the more solid elements, earth and water, and performed by Aaron; three dealing with air and fire which were entrusted to Moses; the seventh was committed to both Aaron and Moses ; while the other three God reserved for Himself.^ Philo believed in a world of spirits, both the angels of Spirits of the Jews and the demons of the Greeks. When God said : the air. "Let us make man," Philo believed that He was addressing those assistant spirits who should be held responsible for the viciousness to which man alone of all creation is liable.* Of the divine rational natures Philo regarded some as incor- poreal, others like the stars as possessed of bodies.^ He also believed that there were spirits in the air as well as afar off in heaven. He could not see why the air should not be inhabited when there were stars in the ether and fish in the sea as well as other animals upon land.^ Indeed he argued that it would be absurd that the element which was essential for the vitality even of land and aquatic animals should have no living beings of its own. That these spirits of the air must be invisible did not trouble him, since the human soul is also invisible. ^ Dc mundi opificto, caps. 15-16. 'Vita Mosis, I, 17. See also on perfect numbers On * De mundi opificio, cap. 24. the Allegories of the Sacred Laws. ^ Ibid., cap. 50. ^Ibid., cap. 20. '^ De somniis, II, 21-22. 358 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Of Philo's five books on dreams only two are extant. They suffice to show, however, that he accepted the art of divination from dreams. Of dreams he distinguished three varieties : those direct from God which require no inter- pretation; those in which the dreamer's mind moves in unison with the world soul, and which are neither entirely clear nor yet very obscure — an instance is Jacob's vision of the ladder ; and third, those in which the mind is moved by a prophetic frenzy of its own, and which require the science of interpretation — such dreams were Joseph's concerning his brothers, and those of the butler and the baker at Pharaoh's court.^ The recent war and its accompaniments and sequels have brought home to some the conviction that our modern civili- zation is after all not vastly superior to that of some preced- ing ages. To those who still imagine that because modern science has freed us from much past superstition concerning nature, we are therefore free from political fakirs, from social absurdities, and from fallacious procedure and reason- ing in many departments of life, the reading may be recom- mended of a passage in Philo's treatise on dreams,^ in which he classifies the art of politics along with that of magic. He compares Joseph's coat of many colors to "the much-variegated web of political aflFairs" where along with "the smallest possible portion of truth" falsehoods of every shade of plausibility are interwoven; and he compares poli- ticians and statesmen to augurs, ventriloquists, and sorcerers, "men skilful in juggling and in incantations and in tricks of all kinds, from whose treacherous arts it is very difficult to escape." He adds that Moses very naturally represented Joseph's coat as blood-stained, since all statecraft is tainted with wars and bloodshed. Twelve centuries later we find Philo's association of politicians with magicians repeated by his compatriot Moses Maimonides in the More Nevochim or Guide for the Per- ^ De soinniis, II, i. ' Cap. 38. XIV PHILO JUDAEUS 359 plexed^ a work which appeared almost immediately in Latin translation and from which this very passage is cited by Albertus Magnus in his discussion of divination by dreams.^ There are some men, says Albert, in whom the intellect is abundant and active and clear. Such men are akin to the superior substances, that is, to the angels and stars, and therefore Moses of Egypt, i.e., Maimonides, calls them sages. But there are others who, according to Albert, con- found true wisdom with sophistry and are content with mere probabilities and imaginations and are at home in. "rhetorical and civil matters." Maimonides, however, de- scribed this class a little differently, saying that in them the imaginative faculty is preponderant and the rational faculty imperfect. "Whence arises the sect of politicians, of legisla- tors, of diviners, of enchanters, of dreamers, , . . and of prestidigiteurs who work marvels by strange cunning and occult arts." ^ ^11, Z7. 'Cap. 5. ^ Since I finished this chapter, I have noted that the "folk-lore in the Old Testament" has led Sir James Frazer to write a passage on "the harlequins of history" somewhat similar to that of Philo on Joseph's coat of many colors. After remarking that friends and foes behold these politicians of the present and historical figures of the future from opposite sides and A thought repeated by Moses Maimon- ides and Albertus Magnus. see only that particular hue of the coat which happens to be turned toward them, Sir James concludes (1918), II, 502, "It is for the im- partial historian to contemplate these harlequins from every side and to paint them in their coats of many colors, neither altogether so white as they appeared to their friends nor altogether so black as they seemed to their enemies." But who can paint out the blood- stains ? CHAPTER XV THE GNOSTICS Difficulty in defining Gnosticism — Magic and astrology in Gnosticism — Simon Magus as a Gnostic — Simon's Helen — The number thirty and the moon — Ophites and Sethians — A magical diagram — Employment of names and formulae — Seven metals and planets — Magic of Simon's followers — Magic of Marcus in the Eucharist— Other magic and occult lore of Marcus — Name and number magic — The magic vowels — Magic of Carpocrates — The Abraxas and the number 365 — Astrology of Basilides — The Book of Helxai — Epiphanius on the Elchasaites — The Book of the Laws of Countries — Personality of Bardesanes — Sin possible for men, angels, and stars — Does fate in the astrological sense prevail? — National laws and customs as a proof of free will — Pistis- Sophia; attitude to astrology — "Magic" condemned — Power of names and rites — Interest in natural science — "Gnostic gems" and astrology — The planets in early Christian art — Gnostic amulets in Spain — Syriac Christian charms — Priscillian executed for magic — Manichean manu- scripts— The Mandaeans. Gnosticism ^ is not easy to define and the term Gnostic appears to have been applied to a great variety of sects with a confusing diversity of beHefs, Many of the constituents and roots at least of Gnosticism were older than Christianity, and it is now the custom to associate the Gnosis or superior knowledge and revelation, which gives the movement its name, not with Greek philosophy or mysteries but with oriental speculation and religions. Anz ^ has been im- pressed by its connection with Babylonian star-worship; Amelineau ^ has urged its debt to Egyptian magic and * A good account of the Gnostic sources and bibliography of sec- ondary works on Gnosticism will be found in CE, "Gnosticism" (ig09) by J. P. Arendzen. * Anz, Zur Frage nach dem Ursprung des Gnosticismus, 1897, 112 pp., in TU, XV, 4- ^ Amelineau, Essai sur le gnos- ticisme cgypticn, ses developpe- mcnts ct son origine egyptienne, 1887, 330 pp., in Musee Guimet, torn. 14 ; and various other publi- cations by the same author. 360 CHAP. XV THE GNOSTICS 361 religion ; Bousset ^ has argued for Persian origins. The main features of the great oriental religions which swept west- ward over the Roman Empire were shared by Gnosticism: the redeemer god, even the great mother goddess conception to some extent, the divinely revealed mysteries, the secret symbols, the dualism, and the cosmic theory. Gnosticism as it is known to us, however, is more closely connected with Christianity than with any other oriental religion or body of thought, for the extant sources consist almost entirely either of Gnostic treatises which pretend to be Christian Scriptures and were almost entirely written in Coptic in the second or third century of our era,^ or of hostile descrip- tions of Gnostic heresies by the early church fathers. How- ever, the philosopher Plotinus also criticized the Gnostics, as we have seen. What especially concerns our investigation is the great Magic and use made, or said to be made, by the Gnostics of sacred ^^ Gnof- formulae, symbols, and names of demons, and the preva- ticism. lence among them of astrological theory as shown by their widespread notion of the seven planets as the powers who have created our inferior and material world and who rule over its affairs. Gnosticism was deeply influenced by, albeit it to some extent represents a reaction against, the Baby- lonian star- worship and incantation of spirits. The seven planets and the demons occupy an important place in Gnostic myth because they intervene between our world and the world of supreme light, and their spheres must be traversed — much as in the Book of Enoch and Dante's Paradiso — both by the redeeming god in his descent and return and by any human soul that would escape from this world of fate, darkness, and matter. What encouragement there is for such views in the canonical Scriptures themselves may be * Bousset, Hauptprohleme der although announced to be edited Gnosis, 191 1 ; and "Gnosticism" by C. Schmidt in TU. Grenfell in EB, nth edition. and Hunt will soon publish "a *The dating is somewhat dis- small group of 21 papyri . . . puted. Some of the Gnostic writ- among which is a gnostic magical ings discovered in 1896 have, I text of some interest" : Grenfell believe, not yet been published, (1921), p. 151. 362 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. inferred from the following passage in which Christ fore- tells His second coming: "Immediately after the tribula- tion of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall he shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." ^ But in order to pass the demons and the spheres of the planets, who are usually represented as opposed to this, one must, as in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, know the pass- words, the names of the spirits, the sacred formulae, the appropriate symbols, and all the other apparatus suggestive of magic and necromancy which forms so large a part of the gnosis that gives its name to the system. This will be- come the more apparent from the following particular accounts of Gnostic sects and doctrines found in the works of the Christian fathers and in the scanty remains of the Gnostics themselves. The philosopher Plotinus we have already heard charge the Gnostics with resort to magic and sorcery, and with ascribing evil and fatal influence to the stars. At the same time we shrewdly suspect that Gnosticism has been made a scapegoat for the sins in these regards of both early Christianity and pagan philosophy. Simon Simon Magus, of whose magical exploits as recorded by Magus as many a Christian writer we shall treat in another chapter, a Gnostic. ... is also represented by the fathers as holding Gnostic doctrine, although some writers have contended that Simon the magician named in Acts was an entirely different person from Simon the heretic and author of The Great Declara- tion? Simon declared himself the Great Power of God, or ^ The Gospel of Matthew, ^ St. George Stock, "Simon XXIV, 29-31. Not to mention Magus," in EB, nth edition. See Paul's "angels anH principalities also George Salmon in Diet. Chris. and powers." Biog., IV, 681. XV THE GNOSTICS 363 the Being who was over all, who had appeared in Samaria as the Father, in Judea as the Son, and to other nations as the Holy Spirit.^ In the Pseudo-Clementines Simon is rep- resented as arguing against Peter in characteristically Gnos- tic style that "he who framed the world is not the highest God, but that the highest God is another who alone is good and who has remained unknown up to this time." ^ Accord- ing to Epiphanius Simon claimed to have descended from heaven through the planetary spheres and spirits in the manner of the Gnostic redeemer. He is quoted as saying, "But in each heaven I changed my form in accordance with the form of those who were in each heaven, that I might escape the notice of my angelic powers and come down to the Thought, who is none other than she who is likewise called Prounikon and the Holy Spirit." Epiphanius further informs us that Simon believed in a plurality of heavens, assigned certain powers to each firmament and heaven, and applied barbaric names to these spirits or cosmic forces. "Nor," adds Epiphanius, "can anyone be saved unless he learns this mystic lore and offers such sacrifices to the Father of all through these archons and authorities." ^ The fathers tell us that Simon went about with a woman Simon's called Helena or Helen, who Justin Martyr says had for- merly been a prostitute.^ Simon is said to have called her the mother of all, through whom God had created the angels and aeons, who in their turn had formed the world and men. These cosmic powers had then, however, cast her down to earth, where she had been confined in various successive human and animal bodies. She seems to have obtained her name of Helen from the fact that it was for her that the Trojan war had been fought, an event which Simon seems to have subjected to much allegorical interpretation. He also spoke of Helen as "the lost sheep," whom he, the Great ^ Irenaeus, Against Heresies, I, XXI ; Petavius, 55-60 ; Dindorf, 23. II, 6-12. ^Homilies, XVIII, i-. * Epiphanius, Paiiarion, A-E- * First Apology, cap. 26. 364 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. The num- ber thirty and the moon. Power, had descended from heaven to release from the bonds of the flesh. She was that Thought or Holy Spirit which we have heard him say he came down to recover. Simon's Helen also corresponds to Pistis-Sophia, who in the extant Gnostic work named after her descends through the twelve aeons, deceived by a lion- faced power whom they have formed to mislead her, and then reascends by the aid of Jesus or the true light. It seems fairly evident that the fathers ^ have taken literally and travestied by a scandalous application to an actual woman a beautiful Gnostic myth or allegory concerning the human soul. At the same time Simon's Helen reminds us of Jesus's relations with the woman taken in adultery, the woman of Samaria, and Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene, it may be noted, in the Gnos- tic writing, Pistis-Sophia, takes a role superior to the twelve disciples, a fact of which Peter complains to his Lord more than once. But Simon's Helen was that spirit of truth which lies latent in the human mind and which he endeavored to release by means of the philosophy, astrology, and magic of his time. May modern scientific method prove more suc- cessful in setting the prisoner free ! We find in the Pseudo-Clementines other details con- cerning Simon and Helen which bring out the astrological side of Gnosticism. We are told that John the Baptist had thirty disciples, a number suggestive of the days of the moon and also of the thirty aeons of the Gnostics of whom we elsewhere hear a great deal.^ But the revolution of the moon does not occupy thirty full days, so that we are not surprised to learn that one of these disciples was a woman and furthermore that she was the very Helen of whom we have been speaking. At least, she is so called in the Homilies of the Pseudo-Clement ; in the Recognitions she is actually ^ Irenaeus and Epiphanius as cited above; also Hippolytus, Philosophumena, VI, 2-15; X, 8. ^ See, for example, Irenaeus, Against Heresies, I, i, 3. where we are told among other things that the disciples of the Gnostic Valen- tinus affirm that the number of these aeons is signified by the thirty years of Christ's life which elapsed before He began His pub- lic ministry. XV THE GNOSTICS 365 called Luna or the Moon.^ After the death of John the Baptist Simon by his magic power supplanted Dositheus as leader of the thirty, and then fell in love with Luna and went about with her, proclaiming- that she was Wisdom or Truth, "brought down . , . from the highest heavens to this world." ^ The number thirty is again associated with Simon and Dositheus in a curiously insistent, although ap- parently unconscious, manner by Origen, who in one passage of his Reply to Celsus, written in the first half of the third century, expresses doubt whether thirty followers of Simon, the Samaritan magician, can be found in all the world, and in a second passage, while asserting that "Simonians are found nowhere throughout the world," adds that of the fol- lowers of Dositheus there are now not more than thirty in all.3 Similar to Simon's account of the heavens and of his Ophites descent through them were the teachings of the Ophites and Sethians. Sethians who, according to Irenaeus,* held that Christ "descended through the seven heavens, having assumed the likeness of their sons, and gradually emptied them of their power." These heretics also represented the "heavens, potentates, powers, angels, and creators as sitting in their proper order in heaven, according to their generation, and as invisibly ruling over things celestial and terrestrial." All ruling spirits were not invisible, however, since the Ophites and Sethians identified with the seven planets their Holy Hebdomad, consisting of laldabaoth, lao, Sabaoth, Adonaus (or, Adonai), Eloeus, Oreus, and Astanphaeus, — names often employed in the Greek magical papyri,^ in medieval incantations, and in the Jewish Cabbala. The Ophites and Sethians further asserted that when the serpent was cast down into the lower world by the Father, he begat six sons ^ Homilies, II, 23-25 ; Recog- " G. Parthey, Zzvei griech. Zau- nitions, II, 8-9. berpapyri des Berliner Museums, ^Homilies, II, 25. i860, p. 128; C. Wessely, Griech. ^ Reply to Celsus, I, 57, and VI, Zaubcrpapyrus von Paris und II. London, 1888, p. 115; F. G. Ken- * Irenaeus, Against Heresies, I, yon, Greek Papyri in the British 30. Museum, 1893, p. 469ff. 366 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. who, with himself, constitute a group of seven corresponding and in contrast to the Holy Hebdomad which surround the Father. They are the seven mundane demons who are ever hostile to humanity. The Sethians of course took their name from Seth, son of Adam, who in the middle ages was regarded sometimes, like Enoch, as the especial recipient of divine revelation and as the author of sacred books. The historian Josephus states in his Jewish Antiquities that Seth and his descendants discovered the art of astronomy and that one of the two pillars on which they recorded their findings was still extant in his time, the first century.-"- Under the caption, Sethian Tablets of Curses, Wiinsch has published some magical imprecations scratched on lead tab- lets between 390 and 420 A. D. at Rome.^ Eight revela- tions ascribed to Adam and Seth are also' extant in Ar- menian 3 A magical In Origen's Reply to Celsus is described a mystic dia- gram with details redolent of magic and astrological necro- mancy,"^ which Celsus had laid to the charge of Christians generally but which Origen declares is probably the product of the "very insignificant sect called Ophites." Origen him- self has seen this diagram or one something like it, and assures his readers that "we know the depth of these un- hallowed mysteries," but he declares that he has never met anybody anywhere who put any faith in this diagram. Ob- viously, however, such a diagram would not have been in existence if no one had ever had faith in it. Furthermore, its survival into Origen's time, when he asserts that men had ceased to use it, is evidence of the antiquity of the sect and the superstition. In this diagram ten distinct circles were united by a single circle representing the soul of all * Josephus, Antiquities, I, ii, 3. Apocrypha, Venice, 1896. a-D \X7" u r ir ■ • i j/ ''The diagram is described in R. Wunsch, Sethramsche Ver- ^^^ ^ ^ ^^ ^^i y^ g .^ nuchungstafeln aus Rom, Leip- ^^^ following description I have zig, i»9«. somewhat aUered the order. An ' E. Preuschen, Die apocryph. attempt to reproduce this diagram gnost. Adamschrift, 1900. Mechi- will be found in CE, "Gnosticism," tarist collection of Old Testament p. 597. XV THE GNOSTICS z^7 things and called Leviathan. Celsus spoke of the upper circles, of which at least some were in colors, as "those that are above the heavens.'' On these were inscribed such words and phrases as "Father and Son," "Love," "Life," "Knowl- edge," and "Understanding." Then there were "the seven circles of archontic demons," who are probably to be con- nected with the spheres of the seven planets. These seven ruling demons were represented by animal heads or figures, somewhat resembling the symbols of the four evangelists to be seen in the mosaics at Ravenna and elsewhere in Chris- tian art. The angel Michael was depicted by a sort of chimaera, the words of Celsus being, "The goat was shaped like a lion" ; Suriel, by a bull ; Raphael, by a dragon ; Gabriel, by an eagle; Thautabaoth, by a bear; Erataoth, by a dog; and Thaphabaoth or Onoel, by an ass. The diagram was divided by a thick black line called Gehenna and beneath the lowest circle was placed "the being named Behemoth." There was also "a square pattern" with inscriptions con- cerning the gates of paradise, a flaming circle with a flaming sword as its diameter guarding the tree of knowledge and of life, "a barrier inscribed in the shape of a hatchet," and a rhomboid with the words, "The foresight of wisdom." Celsus further mentioned a seal with which the Father im- presses the Son, who says, "I have been anointed with white ointment from the tree of life," and seven angels who con- tend with the seven ruling demons for the soul of the dying body. Origen further informs us of the forms of salutation Employ- to each ruling spirit employed by "those sorcerers," as they ™ames and pass through "the fence of wickedness" or the gate to the formulae, realm of each spirit. The names of the spirits are now given as laldabaoth, who is the lion-like archon and with whom the planet Saturn is in sympathy, lao or Jah, Sabaoth, Adonaeus, Astaphaeus, Aloaeus or Eloaeus, and Horaeus. The following is an example of the salutations or invoca- tions addressed to these spirits : "Thou, O second lao, who shinest by night, who art the ruler of the secret mysteries 368 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Seven metals and planets. Magic of Simon's followers. of Son and Father, first prince of death, and portion of the innocent, bearing now thine own beard as symbol, I am ready to pass through thy realm, having strengthened him who is born of thee by the living word. Grace be with me; Father, let it be with me!" Origen also states that the makers of this diagram have borrowed from magic the names laldabaoth, Astaphaeus, and Horaeus, while the other four are names of God drawn from the Hebrew Scriptures. It is worth noting that immediately before this account of the diagram Celsus had described similar Persian mys- teries of Mithras, in which seven heavens through which the soul has to pass were arranged in an ascending scale like a ladder.^ Each successive heaven was entered by a gate of a metal corresponding to the planet in question, lead for Saturn, tin for Venus, copper for Jupiter, iron for Mercury, a mixed metal for Mars, silver for the moon, and gold for the sun. This association of metals and planets became a common feature of medieval alchemy. At the same time the passage is said to be our chief literary source for the mysteries of Mithras.^ The Simonians, according to Irenaeus, were as addicted to magic as their founder had been, employing exorcisms and incantations, love-philters and enchantments, familiar spirits and "dream-senders." "And whatever other curi- ous arts may be resorted to are eagerly employed by them." Menander, the immediate successor of Simon in Samaria, was "a perfect adept in the practice of magic" and taught that by means of it one could overcome the angels who had created this world. ^ In a treatise on rebaptism, falsely as- cribed to Cyprian but very likely contemporary with him, it is stated that the Simonians regard their baptism as su- perior to that of orthodox Christians, because when they descend into the water fire appears upon its surface. The writer thinks that this is done by some trick, or that there is some natural explanation of it, or that they merely imag- * Reply to Celsus, VI, 22. *Anz. (1897), p. 78. ^ Adv. haer., I, 23. XV THE GNOSTICS 369 ine that they see a flame on the water, or that It is the work of some evil one and of magic power.^ Epiphanius states that Simon employed such obscene substances as semen and menstruum in his magic," but this seems to be a slander, at least against Gnosticism, since in a passage of the Gnostic Book of the Saznour, adjoined to the Pistis- Sophia, Thomas asks Jesus what shall be the punishment of men who eat ''semen maris et menstruum feminae" mixed with lentils, saying as they do so, "We believe in Esau and Jacob," and is told that this is the worst of sins and that the souls of those committing it will be absolutely blotted out.^ Next to Simon Magus, Marcus was the Gnostic and Magic of heretic most notorious as a practitioner of the magic arts, as jn^the^^ Irenaeus states at the close of the second century, and Eucharist. Hippolytus and Epiphanius repeat in the third and fourth centuries respectively.* In performing the Eucharist he would change white wine placed in three wine cups into three different colors, one blood-red, one purple, and one dark blue, according to Epiphanius, while Irenaeus and Hippoly- tus more vaguely state, although they lived closer to Mar- cus's time, that he gave the wine a purple or reddish hue as if it had been changed into blood, an alteration which Marcus himself regarded as a manifestation of divine grace. Epiphanius attributes the change to an incantation muttered by Marcus while pretending to perform the Eucharist. * Wm. Hartel, S. Thasci Caecili * Irenaeus, Against Heresies, I, Cypriani Opera Omnia, Pars III, 13, et seq.; Hippolytus, Philo- Opcra Spuria (1870), p. 90, De sophumena, VI, 34, et seq.; rebaptismate, cap. 16, "quod si Epiphanius, Panarion, ed. Din- aliquo lusu perpetrari potest, sicut dorf, II, 217, et seq. (ed. Petav., adfirmantur plerique huiusmodi 232, et seq.). Concerning Marcus lusus Anaxilai esse, sive naturale see further TertulHan, De prae- quid est quo pacto possit hoc con- script., L; Theodoret, Haeret. tingere, sive illi putant hoc se Fab., I, 9; Jerome, Epist., 29; Au- conspicere, sive maligni opus et gustine, Haer., xiv. "D'apres magicum virus ignem potest in Reuvens," says Berthelot (1885), aqua exprimere." p. 57, "le papyrus n° 75 de Leide 'Contra haercses, II, 2. renferme un melange de recettes ' ' magiques, alchimiques, et d idees ' Pistis-Sophia, ed. Schwartze gnostiques; ces dernieres em- and Peter mann (1851), pp. 386-7; pruntees aux doctrines de Mar- ed. Mead (1896), p. 390. cus." 370 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Other magic and occult lore of Marcus. Name and number magic. Hippolytus, who ascribes Marcus's feats partly to sleight- of-hand and partly to demons, in this case charges that he furtively dropped some drug into the wine. Marcus was also accustomed to fill a large cup from a smaller one so that it would overflow, a marvel which Hippolytus again tries to account for by stating that "very many drugs, when mingled in this way with liquid substances" temporarily increase their volume, "especially when diluted in wine." Irenaeus, who is quoted verbatim by Epiphanius, fur- ther states that Marcus had a familiar demon by whose aid he was able to prophesy, and that he pretended to confer this gift upon others. He also accuses Marcus of seducing women by means of philters and love potions which he compounded. Hippolytus does not make these charges, but unites with the others in describing at length Marcus's the- ory of mystic names and his symbolical and mystical inter- pretation of the letters of the alphabet and of numbers. Marcus made various calculations based upon the number of letters in a name, the number of letters in the name of each letter, and so on. When Christ, whose ineffable name has thirty letters, said, "I am Alpha and Omega," He was believed by Marcus to have displayed the dove, whose num- ber is 80 1, These reveries "are mere bits," as Hippolytus says, of astrological theory and Pythagorean philosophy. We shall find them perpetuated in the middle ages in the method of divination known as the Sphere of Pythagoras. Such symbolism and mysticism concerning numbers and letters seldom indeed remain a matter of mere theory but readily lend themselves to operative magic. Thus Hippolytus can speak in the same breath of "magical arts and Pythag- orean numbers" or tell that Pythagoras himself "also touched on magic, as they say, and himself discovered an art of physiognomy, laying down as a basis certain numbers and measures." Or note a third passage where Hippolytus is discussing Egyptian theology based on the theory of numbers.^ After treating of the monad, duad, and enneads, * Hippolytus, Philosophumcna, VI, preface; I, 2; and IV, 43-4. XV THE GNOSTICS 37i of the four elements in pairs, of the 360 parts of the circle, of "ascending and beneficent and masculine names" which end in odd numbers, and of feminine and malicious and descending- names which terminate in even numbers, Hippo- lytus continues, "Moreover, they assert that they have cal- culated the word, 'Deity.' Now this name is an even num- ber, and they write it down and attach it to the body and accomplish cures by it. In the same way an herb which terminates in this number is bound around the body and operates by reason of a similar calculation of the number. Nay, even a doctor cures the sick by such calculations." Similarly Censorinus states that the number seven is as- cribed to Apollo and used in the cure of bodily ills, while nine is associated with the Muses and heals mental dis- eases.^ But to return to Gnosticism. The seven vowels were much employed by the Gnostics, The magic undoubtedly as symbols for the seven planets and the spirits associated with them, but as symbols possessed of magic power as well as of mystic significance. "The Saviour and His disciples are supposed in the midst of their sentences to have broken out in an interminable gibberish of only vowels ; magic spells have come down to us consisting of vowels by the fourscore ; on amulets the seven vowels, repeated accord- ing to all sorts of artifices, form a very common inscrip- tion." ^ As the seven planets made the music of the spheres, so the seven vowels seem to have represented the musical scale, "and many a Gnostic sheet of vowels is in fact a sheet of music." ^ Other heretics with Gnostic views who were accused of Magic of magic by the fathers were the followers of Carpocrates, who ^SSg" employed incantations and spells, philters and potions, who attracted spirits to themselves and made light of the cosmic angels, and who pretended to have great power over all ^ Censorinus, De die natali, caps. ' Ruelle et Poiree, Le chant 7 and 14. gnostico-magique, Solesmes, 1901. 'Arendzen, Gnosticism, in CE, 372 MAGIC 'AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. The Abraxas and the number 365. Astrology of Basi- lides. The Book of Helxai. things so that they were able by their magic to satisfy every desire.^ Saturninus and Basilides were charged with "practicing magic, and employing images, incantations, invocations, and every other kind of curious art." They also believed in a supreme power named Abrasax or Abraxas, whose number was 365 ; and they contended that there were 365 heavens and as many bones in the human body; "and they strive to set forth the names, principles, angels, and powers of the 365 imagined heavens," ^ Hippolytus gives further indication of the astrological leanings of Basilides, who held that each thing had its own particular time, and supported his view by citing the Magi gazing wistfully at the star of Bethlehem and the remark of Christ Himself, "Mine hour is not yet come." ^ I suppose that by this Hippolytus means to suggest that Basilides held the astrological doctrine of elections; Basilides further af- firmed, according to Hippolytus, that Jesus was "mentally preconceived at the time of the generation of the stars ; and of the complete return to their starting point of all the sea- sons in the vast conglomeration," that is, at the end of the astronomical magmis annus, variously reckoned as of 36,000 or 15,000 years in duration. In his Refutation of all Heresies * Hippolytus tells of an Alcibiades from Apamea in Syria who in his time brought to Rome a book supposed to contain revelations made to a holy man, Elchasai or Helxai, by an angel ninety-six miles in height and from sixteen to twenty-four miles in breadth and leaving a footprint fourteen miles long. This angel was the Son of God, and was accompanied by a female of corresponding size who was the Holy Spirit. This appari- tion and revelation was accompanied by a preaching of a new remission of sins in the third year of Trajan's reign, at which time we are led to suppose that the Book of Helxai * Irenaeus, I, 25 ; Hippolytus, VII, 20; Epiphanius, ed. Dindorf, II, 64. ^Irenaeus, I, 24; Epiphanius, ed. Dindorf, II, 27-8. ^ Hippolytus, VII, 14-15. *The more correct title for the Philosophumena, see IX, 8-12. AV THti GIJSTICS 373 came into existence. It imposed secrecy upon those initiated into its mysteries. The sect, according to Hippolytus, were much given to magic, astrology, and the number mysticism of Pythagoras. The Elchasaites employed incantations and formulae to cure persons bitten by mad dogs or afflicted with disease. In such cases and also in the case of rebaptism for the remission of sins it was customary with them to invoke or adjure "seven witnesses," not however in this case the planets, but "the heaven, and the water, and the holy spirits, and the angels of prayer, and the oil (or, the olive), and the salt, and the earth." Hippolytus declares that their formulae of this sort were "very numerous and very ridic- ulous." They dipped consumptives and persons possessed by demons in cold water forty times in seven days. They believed in the astrological doctrine of elections, since their sacred book warned them not to baptize or begin other im- portant undertakings upon those days which were governed by the evil stars. They also seem to have predicted political events from the stars, foretelling that three years after Trajan's subjugation of the Parthians "war rages between the impious angels of the northern (constellations), and on this account all kingdoms of impiety are in confusion." In the next century Epiphanius adds one or two further Epipha- details to Hippolytus' account of the Elchasaites. Besides g^cha-^^^ the list of seven witnesses already given he mentions another saites. slightly different one: salt, water, earth, wheat, heaven, ether, and wind. He also tells of two sisters in the time of Constantine who were supposed to be descendants of Helxai. One of them was still alive the last Epiphanius knew, and crowds followed "this witch" to collect the dust of her footprints or her spittle to use in curing diseases.^ We possess an important document for the attitude of The Book o) early Christianity and Gnosticism towards astrology in The ^Countries Dialogue concerning Fate or The Book of the Laws of Countries of Bardesanes or Bardaisan.- The complete ^Dindorf, II, log-io, 507-9. Haase, Zur hardesanischen Gnosis, 'A. Merx, Bardesanes der Leipzig, 1910, in TU, XXIV, 4. letste Gnostiker, Jena, 1864. F. 374 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Syriac text is extant ; ^ there is a long and somewhat modi- fied extract adopted from it in the Latin Recognitions of Clement,^ and briefer fragments in the Greek fathers. Strictly speaking, the text seems to be written by some fol- lower of Bardesanes named Philip who represents his master as discussing the problem of human free will with Avida, himself, and other disciples. The bulk of the treatise is in any case put in Bardesanes' mouth and it probably reflects his views with fair accuracy. Eusebius ascribed it to Barde- sanes himself. Person- Bardesanes (154-222 A. D.) was born in Edessa. He Barde- Spent most of his life in Mesopotamia but for a time went to sanes, Armenia as a missionary. His many works in Syriac in- cluded apologies for Christianity, attacks upon heresies, and numerous hymns, but the only work extant is the treatise we are about to examine, with the possible exception of The Hymn of the Soul ^ ascribed to him and contained in the Syriac Acts of St. Thomas. His doctrines were regarded by Ephraem Syrus and others as tainted with Gnostic heresy. He is often represented as a follower of Valentinus, but the ancient authorities, such as Epiphanius and Eusebius, dis- agree as to whether he degenerated from orthodoxy to Valentinianism or reformed in the opposite direction. In the dialogue which we consider he is represented as a Christian, but his remarks have often been thought to have a Gnostic flavor. F. Nau, however, has argued that he was not a Gnostic and that the statements in question in the dia- logue can be explained as purely astrological.^ Sin pos- The treatise opens with the query, why did not God men ^°^ make men so that they could not sin? The reply of course angels, is that moral freedom for good or evil is a greater gift of God than compulsory morality. By virtue of his individual freedom of action man is equal to the angels, some of whom, * English translation in AN, Bevan, 1897; F. C. Burkett, 1899; VIII, 723-34. G. R. S. Mead, 1906. "Recognitions, IX, 17 and 19- * F. Nau, Une biographic ine- 2Q. dite de Bardesane I'astrologue, 'English translations by A. A. 1897. XV THE GNOSTICS 375 too, have sinned v^^ith the daughters of men and fallen, and is superior even to the sun, moon, and signs of the zodiac v^hich are fixed in their courses. The stars, hov^ever, as in The Book of Enoch, "are not absolutely destitute of all freedom" and will be held responsible at the day of judg- ment. Presently some of them are called evil. After some discussion v^hether man does wrong from Does fate his nature, the treatise turns to the question, how far are a^troLgi- men controlled by fate, that is, by the power of the seven cal sense . . prevail? planets m accordance with the doctrine of the Chaldeans, which is the term here usually employed for astrologers. Some men attack astrology as "a lying invention" and hold that the human will is free and that such evils as man can- not avoid are due to chance or to divine punishment but not to the stars. Between these extremes Bardesanes takes mid- dle ground. He believes that there is such a force in the stars, whom he refers to as Potentates and Governors, as the fate of which the astrologers speak, but that this fate evi- dently does not rule everything, since it is itself established by the one God who imposed upon the stars and elements that motion in conformity with which "intelligences under- go change when they descend to the soul, and souls under- go change when they descend to bodies," a statement which appears to have a Gnostic flavor. This fate furthermore is limited by nature on the one hand and human free ^yill on the other hand. The vital processes and periods which are common to all men, such as birth, generation, child- bearing, eating, drinking, old age, and death, Bardesanes regards as governed by nature. "The body," he says, "is neither hindered nor helped by fate in the several acts it performs," a view which most astrologers would probably not accept. On the contrary, in Bardesanes' opinion wealth and honors, power and subjection, sickness and health, are controlled by fate which often disturbs the regular course of nature. This is because in genesis or the nativity the stars, some of which work with and some against nature, Z7^ MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. are in conflict. In short, some stars are good and some are evil. National If nature is thus often upset by the stars, fate in its customs as ^^^^ "^^^ ^^ resisted and overpowered by man's exercise of a proof will. This assertion Bardesanes proceeds to prove by the will. argument which has given to the dialogue the title. The Book of the Laws of the Countries, and which we find much re- peated in subsequent writers. Briefly it is that in various nations certain laws are enforced upon, or customs ob- served by all the people alike regardless of their diverse individual horoscopes. In illustration of this are listed va- rious prohibitions and practices fondly supposed by Barde- sanes and his audience to characterize the Seres, Brahmans, Persians, Geli, Bactrians, Arabs, Britons, Parthians, Ama- zons, and other peoples. Savage tribes are mentioned among whom there are no artists, bankers, perfumers, musicians, and poets to fit the nativities decreed by the constellations for certain times. Bardesanes is aware of the astrological the- ory of seven zones or climes, by which the science of individ- ual horoscopes is corrected and modified, but he contends that there are many different laws in each of these zones, and would be, even if the number were raised to twelve ac- cording to the number of the signs or to thirty-six after the decans. He also contends that men retain their laws or customs when they migrate to other climes, and adduces the fidelity of Jews and Christians to the commandments of their respective religions as a further illustration of the triumph of free will over the stars. He concedes, how- ever, as before that "in every country and in every nation there are rich and poor, and rulers and subjects, and peo- ple in health and those who are sick, each one according as fate and his nativity have affected him." Incidentally to the foregoing discussion it is affirmed that the astrology of Egypt and that of the Chaldeans in Babylon are identical. At the close of the treatise is appended a note stating that Bardesanes estimated the duration of the world at six thousand years on the basis of sixty as the least number of XV THE GNOSTICS 2>77 years in which the seven planets complete an even number of revolutions. If the work ascribed to Bardesanes is not certainly The Pistis- Gnostic, the Pistis-Sophia is, and we turn next to it and first Sophia: of all to its attitude towards astroloe^y. This treatise is attitude to . astrology, extant in a Coptic codex of the fifth or sixth century; ^ the Greek original text was probably written in the second half of the third century. It gives the revelations made by Jesus to his disciples after He had ascended to heaven and re- turned again to them. When He ascended through the heav- ens, He changed the fatal influence of the lords of the spheres and made the planets turn to the right for six months of the year, whereas before they had faced the left continually." In a long passage near the close of the Pistis- Sophia proper ^ Jesus asserts the absolute control of human destiny hitherto by "the rulers of the fate" and describes how they fashion the new soul, control the process of gen- eration and of the formation of the child in the womb, and decree every event of life down to the day and manner of death. Only by the Gnostic key to the mysteries can one escape their control.^ In the following Book of the Saviour, moreover, even the finding of this key is subjected to astral control, since a constellation is described under which all souls descending to this world will be just and good and will discover the mysteries of light.^ The Pistis-Sophia assumes the usual attitude of con- "Magic" demnation of magic so-called. Among the evils which Jesus denined. warns his followers to renounce are superstition and invo- cations and drugs or magic potions.^ One object of his re- ducing by one-third the power of the lords of the spheres when He ascended through the heavens was that men might not henceforth invoke them by magic rites for evil pur- eed. Coptic and Latin by M. G. manuscript occurs the Book of the Schwartze and J. H. Petermann, Saviour of which we shall also 1851 ; French translation by E. treat. Amelineau, 1895; English by G. R. ^Pistis-Sophia, 25-6. S. Mead, 1896; German by C. 'Ibid., 336-50. Schmidt, 1905. The Coptic text is * Ibid., 355, et seq. thickly interspersed with Greek ^ Ibid., 389-90. words and phrases. In the same "Ibid., 255 and 258, 378 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Power of names and rites. Interest in natural science. poses. Marvels may still, however, be accomplished by "those who know the mysteries of the magic of the thirteenth aeon" or power above the spheres.^ But while magic is renounced, great faith is shown in the power of names and rites. Thus after a description of the dragon of outer darkness and the twelve main dungeons into which it divides and the animal faces and names of the twelve rulers thereof, who evidently represent in an in- accurate fashion the signs of the zodiac, it is added that even unrepentant sinners, if they know the mystery of any one of these twelve names, can escape from these dungeons.^ In the Book of the Saviour Jesus not only utters several long lists of strange and presumably magic words by way of invocation to the Power or powers above, but these are accompanied by careful observance of ceremonial. On both occasions Jesus and the disciples are clad in linen.^ In the first case the disciples are carefully grouped with reference to the points of the compass, towards which Jesus turns suc- cessively as He utters the magic words standing at a sacri- ficial altar. The result of this ceremony and invocation was that the heavens were displaced and the earth left behind and that Jesus and the disciples found themselves in the region of mid-air. Before uttering the other invocation Jesus commanded that fire and vine branches be brought, placed an offering on the flame, and carefully arranged two vessels of wine, two cups of water, and as many pieces of bread as there were disciples. In this case the object was to remit the sins of the disciples. In the Book of Jeu in the Bruce Papyrus there is a perfect riot of such magic names and invocations, seals and diagrams, and accompany- ing ceremonial.* The interest of the Gnostics in natural science is seen in the list of things that will be known by one who has pene- ^ Pistis-Sophia, 29-30. 692 pp., in TU, VIII, 2, with Ger- ' Ibid., 319-35. man translation of the Coptic text * Ibid., 357-8, 375-6. at pp. 142-223. Portions have been * Carl Schmidt, Gnostische translated into English by G. R. Schrifte in koptischer Sprache S. Mead, Fragments of a Faith aus dem codex Brucianus, 1892, Forgotten, 1900. XV THE GNOSTICS 379 trated all the mysteries and fully entered upon the inheri- tance of the kingdom of light. Not only will he understand why there is light and darkness, and why sin and vice exist and life and death, but also why there are reptiles and wild beasts and why they shall be destroyed, why there are birds and beasts of burden, why there are gems and precious metals, why there are brass, iron and steel, lead, glass, wax, herbs, waters, "and why the wild denizens of the sea." Why there are four points of the compass, why demons and men, why heat and cold, stars, winds, and clouds, frost, snow, planets, aeons, decans, and so on and so forth.^ King has shown that many of the so-called "Gnostic "Gnostic gems" are purely astrological talismans and that "only a fstrology, very small minority amidst their multitude present any traces of the influence of Christian doctrines." ^ Many are for medicinal or magical purposes rather than of a religious character. Some nevertheless are engraved with the truly Gnostic figure of Pantheus Abraxas which King regards as "the actual invention of Basilides." Another common sym- bol, borrowed from Egypt, is the Agathodaemon, which by the third century had become the popular designation of the hooded snake of Egypt, or Chnuphis or Chneph, a great serpent with a lion's head encircled by a crown of seven or twelve rays, representing the planets or signs. Often the seven Greek vowels are placed at the tips of the seven rays. On the obverse of the gem the letter "s" is engraved thrice and traversed by a straight rod, a design probably meant to depict a snake twisting about a wand. We are reminded, not only with King of the club of Aesculapius, but of Aaron's rod, the magicians of Pharaoh, and the serpent lifted up in the wilderness; also of Lucian's tale of the pre- tended discovery of the god Asclepius by the pseudo- prophet, Alexander. At least one "Gnostic amulet" has on the back the legend "lao Sabao" (th).^ ^ Pistis-Sophia, 205-15. Precious Stones and Gems, Lon- ' C. W. King, The Gnostics and don, 1865. their Remains, 1887, pp. xvi- ^ A. B. Cook, Zeus, p. 235, citing xviii, 215-8. Also his The Natural J. Spon, Miscellanea eruditae an- History, Ancient and Modern, of tiquitatis, Lyons, 1685, p. 297. 38o MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE ^AP. The planets in early Christian art. Gnostic amulets in Spain. Syriac Christian charms. The influence of astrology may be seen in other and more certainly genuine works of early Christian art than many of the so-called Gnostic gems. On a lamp in the catacombs Christ is depicted as the good shepherd with a lamb on His shoulder. Above His head are the seven planets, although the sun and moon are shown again at either side, and about His feet press seven lambs, perhaps an indication that He is freeing the peoples of the seven climes from the fatal influence of the stars. In the Poemander attributed to Hermes it is stated that there are seven peoples from the seven planets. On a gem of perhaps the third century a similar scene is engraved except that the sun and moon are not shown apart from the seven planets, and that the lamb on Christ's shoulders is counted as one of the seven, so that there are but six at His feet.^ "Gnostic amulets and other works of art" are occasion- ally found in Spain, especially the Asturian northwest which remained Christian at the time of the Mohammedan con- quest of the rest of the peninsula. One ring is inscribed with the sentence, "Zeus, Serapis, and lao are one." On another octagonal ring are Greek letters signifying the Gnostic Anthropos or father of wisdom. A stone is carved with a candelabrum and the seven planets, "the sacred hebdomad of the Chaldeans." ^ Gollancz in his Selection of Charms from Syriac Manu- scripts presents a number of spells and incantations which, whether any of them are Gnostic or not, certainly seem to be Christian, since they mention the divine persons of Chris- tianity, Mary, and various Biblical characters.^ At the close of the fourth century the views of the Gnos- tics were revived in Gaul and Spain by Priscillian, who Reitzenstein, Poimandres, pp. 1 1 1-3. On the planets in later medieval art see Fuchs, Die Ikonographie dcr 7 Plancten in der Kunst Italiens bis sum Aus- gange des Mittelalters, Munich, 1909. * E. S. Bouchier, Spain under the Roman Empire, p. 125. ' Hermann Gollancz, Selection of Charms from Syriac Manu- scripts, 1898; also pp. 77-97 in Acts of International Congress of Orientalists, Sept., 1897; Syriac text and English translation. XV THE GNOSTICS 381 seems to have been much influenced by astrology and who Pnscillian w^as put to death at Treves in 385 A. D. on a charge of magic, for magic. He confessed under torture, but w^as afterwards thought innocent. We are not told, however, what the magical prac- tices were of which he was accused.^ Both Sulpicius Sev- erus and Isidore of Seville ^ state that he was accused of maleilcmm, which should mean witchcraft, sorcery, or mag- ical operations with the intent to injure someone. But fur- ther details are wanting, except that Sulpicius calls Pris- cillian a man "more pufifed up than was right with the knowledge of profane things, and who was further believed to have practiced magic arts since adolescence," while Isi- dore states that Bishop Itacius (Ithaicus), who was largely responsible for pushing the charges against Priscillian, showed in a book which he wrote against Priscillian's heresy that "a certain Marcus of Memphis, most learned in magic art, was a disciple of Mani and master of Pris- cillian." Priscillian himself states in his extant works that Itacius had accused him of magic in 380. As the final trial proceeded, Itacius gave way as accuser to a public prosecutor {Hsci patronus) who continued the case on behalf of the emperor Maximus who seems to have had his eye upon Priscillian's large fortune. St. Martin of Tours in vain obtained from Maximus a promise that Priscillian should not be put to death. ^ But his execution brought his per- secutor Itacius into such bad odor that he was excommuni- cated and condemned to exile for the rest of his life. We have just heard that Priscillian was taught by a dis- Manichean ciple of Mani, while Ephraem Syrus states that Bardesanes ^^^""scnpts, ^ In 1885-1886 eleven tracts by Etudes, Fasc. 169), which super- Priscillian were discovered by G. sedes the earlier works of Paret, Schepss in a Wiirzburg MS. They 1891 ; Dierich, 1897; and Edling, shed, however, little light upon the 1902. question whether he was addicted ^ Sulpicii Severi Historia Sacra, to magic. They have been pub- II, 46-51 (Migne, PL, XX, 155, et lished in Priscilliani quae super- seq.) S. Isidori Hispalensis sunt., etc., ed. G. Schepss, 1889, Episcopi, De viris itlustrihus. Cap. in CSEL, XVIII. 15 (Migne, PL, LXXXIII, 1092). See also E. Ch. Babut, Pris- ' Realencyklopddie fur protes- cillien et la Priscillienisnie, Paris, tantische Theologie, XVI, 63. 1909 {Bibl. d. l'£cole d. Haute s 382 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. was the teacher of Mani. Augustine in his youth, when a follower of the Manicheans, had been devoted to astrology. This connection between Gnosticism and astrology and Manicheism has been further attested by the fragments of Manichean manuscripts recently discovered in central Asia.* In them the sun-god and moon-god and five other planets play a prominent part. Besides the five planets we have five elements — ether, wind, light, fire, and water — five plants, five trees, and five beings with souls — man, quadrupeds, rep- tiles, aquatic, and flying animals. The five gods or luminous bodies are represented as good forces who imprisoned five kinds of demons ; but the devil had his revenge by imprison- ing luminous forces in man, whom he made a microcosm of the universe. / nd whereas the good spirit had created sun and moon, the devil formed male and female. The great sage of beneficent light then appeared in the world and brought forth from his own five members five liberators — pity, contentment, patience, wisdom, and good faith — corre- sponding to the five elements just as among the Christians we shall find four virtues and four elements. Then ensued the struggle of the old man with the new man. Although we are commonly told that idolatry and magic were strictly prohibited by the Manicheans, the envoy of light is in one text represented as "employing great magic prayers" in his effort to deliver living beings. When men eat living beings, they offend against the five gods, the earth dry and moist, the five orders of animate beings, the five different herbs and five trees. Other numbers than five appear in these Manichean fragments : four seals of light and four praises, four courts with iron barriers; three vestments and three wheels and three calamities; ten vows and ten layers of heavens above, and eight layers of earth beneath; twelve * My following statements in the astuanift, Das Bussgebet der Mani- text are based upon E. Chavannes chder, Petrograd, 1909; A. v. Le et P. Pelliot, Un traite manicheen Coq, Chuastuanift, ein Sundenbe- retrouve en Chine, 1913, — they date kenntnis der Manichaischen Au- the Chinese translation about 900 ditores, Berlin, 1911. There are A.D. and the MS of it within a further publications on the subject, century later; W. Radloflf, Chu- XV THE GNOSTICS 383 great kings and twelve evil natures ; thirteen great luminous forces and thirteen parts of the carnal body and thirteen vices, — elsewhere fourteen parts; fifteen enumerations of sins for which forgiveness is sought; fifty days in the year to be observed; and so on. A sect derived either from Gnosticism or from common The Man- sources seems still to exist in the case of the Mandaeans of ^^^"^• southern Babylonia.^ They believe that the earth and man were formed by a Demiurge, who corresponds to the lalda- baoth of the Ophites, and who was aided by the spirits of the seven planets. They divide the history of the world into seven ages and represent Jesus Christ as a false prophet and magician produced by the planet Mercury. The lower world consists of four vestibules and three hells proper and has seven iron and seven golden walls. A dying Mandaean is clothed in a holy dress of seven pieces. The spirits of the planets, however, are represented as evil beings, and the first two of three sets of progeny borne by the spirit of hell fire were the seven planets and the twelve signs of the zodiac. The influence of these two numbers, seven and twelve, may be further seen in the regulation that a candidate for the priesthood should be at least nineteen years old and have had twelve years of previous training, which we infer would normally begin when he reached his seventh year and not before. Other prominent numbers in Mandaean lore are five,^ perhaps indicative of the planets other than sun and moon, and three hundred and sixty, suggestive of the num- ber of degrees in the circle of the zodiac. Thus the main manifestations of the primal light are five, and the third generation produced by the spirit of hell fire was of like number. The number of aeons is often stated as three hun- dred and sixty, and the delivering deity or Messiah of the *The following details are from Anz (1897), pp. 70-8. Fur- drawn from the articles on the ther bibliography will be found in Mandaeans in EB, nth edition, by these references. K. Kessler and G. W. Thatcher, ' The number five also appears and in ERE by W. Brandt, author in the Pistis-Sophia and other of Manddische Religion, 1889, and Gnostic literature. Manddische Schriften, 1893, and 384 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.xv Mandaeans is said to have sent forth that number of dis- ciples before his return to the realm of light. We hear of yet other numbers, such as 480,000 years for the duration of the world, 60,000, and 240, but these too are commen- surate, if not identical, with astrological periods such as those of conjunctions and the magnus annus. A peculiarity of Mandaean astronomy and astrology is that the other heavenly bodies are all believed to rotate about the polar star. Mandaeans always face it when praying; their sanc- tuaries are built so that persons entering face it; and even the dying man is placed so that his feet point and eyes gaze in its direction. Like the Gnostics, the Mandaeans invoke by many strange names their spirits and aeons who are divided into numerous orders. Their names for the planets seem to be of Babylonian origin. Passages from their sa- cred books are recited like incantations and are considered more effective in danger and distress than prayer in the ordinary sense of the word. Such recitations are also em- ployed to aid the souls of the dead to ascend through vari- ous stages or prisons to the world of light. Earthenware vessels have recently been brought to light with Mandaean inscriptions and incantations to avert evil.-^ ^ H. Pognon, Une Incantation ddische Zaubertexte, in Ephemeris centre les genies malfaisants en f. semit. Epig., I (1902), 89-106. Manddite, 1893; Inscriptions man- J. A. Montgomery, Aramaic In- ddites des coupes dc Khonahir, cantation Texts from Nippur, 1897-1899. M. Lidzbarski, Man- 1913. CHAPTER XVI THE CHRISTIAN APOCRYPHA Magic in the Bible — Apocryphal Gospels of the Infancy — Question of their date — Their medieval influence — Resemblances to Apuleius and Apollonius in the Arabic Gospel of the Infancy — Counteracting magic and demons — Other miracles and magic by the Christ child — Some- times with injurious results — Further marvels from the Pseudo- Matthew — Learning of the Christ child — Other charges of magic against Christ and the apostles — The Magi and the star — Allegorical zoology of Barnabas — Traces of Gnosticism in the apocryphal Acts — Legend of St. John — Legend of St. Sousnyos — Old Testament Apocrypha of the Christian era. It is hardly necessary to rehearse here in detail the nu- Magic in merous allusions to, prohibitions of, and descriptions of the ^ ' ^' practice of magic, witchcraft, and astrology, enchantments and exorcisms, divination and interpretation of dreams, which are to be found scattered through the pages of the Old and New Testaments. Such passages had a profound influence upon Christian thought on such themes in the early church and during the middle ages, and we shall have occa- sion to mention many, if not most, of such scriptural pas- sages, in connection with this later discussion of them by the church fathers and others. For instance, Pharaoh's ma- gicians and their contests with Moses and Aaron; Balaam and his imprecations and enchantments and prediction that a star would come out of Jacob and a scepter out of Israel; the witch of Endor or ventriloquist and her invocation of what seemed to be the ghost of Samuel ; the repeated use of the numbers seven and twelve, suggestive of the planets and signs of the zodiac, as in the twelve cakes of showbread and candlestick with seven branches; the dreams and inter- pretation of dreams of Joseph and Daniel, not to mention 385 386 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. the former's silver divining cup ; ^ the wise men who saw Christ's star in the east; Christ's own allusion to the shak- ing of "the powers of the heavens" and the gathering of His elect from the four winds at His second coming ; the accusa- tion against Christ that He cast out demons by the aid of the prince of demons; the eclipse of the sun at the time of the crucifixion ; the adventures of the apostles with Simon Ma- gus, with Elymas the sorcerer, and with the damsel pos- sessed with a spirit of divination who brought her mastei much gain by soothsaying; the burning of their books of magic by the vagabond Jewish exorcists ; the prohibitions of heathen divination and witchcraft by the Mosaic law and by the prophets; the penalties prescribed for sorcerers in the Book of Revelation ; at the same time the legalized prac- tice of similar superstitions, such as the ordeal to test a wife's faithfulness by making her drink "the bitter water that causeth the curse," ^ the engraved gold plate upon the high priest's forehead,^ or the use of Paul's handkerchief and underwear to cure the sick and dispel demons ; the prom- ise to believers in the closing verses or appendix of The Gos- pel according to St. Mark that they shall cast out devils, speak with new tongues, handle serpents and drink poison without injury, and cure the sick by laying on of hands. The foregoing scarcely exhaust the obvious allusions or analogies to astrology and other magic arts in the Bible, to say nothing of less explicit passages ^ which were later taken to justify certain occult arts, as Exodus XIH, 9, to support chiromancy, and the Gospel of John XI, 9, to support the astrological doctrine of elections. Suffice it for the present to say that the prevailing atmosphere of the Bible is one of * Genesis XLIV, 5, and J. G. and also his other works ; for in- Frazer (1918), II, 426-34. stance, The Magic Art, 191 1, I, * In the apocryphal Protevan- 258, for the contest in magic rain- gelium of James, cap. 16, both making between Elijah and the Joseph and Mary undergo the priests of Baal in First Kings, test. Chapter XVIII, while I do not * Joachim consults the plate in understand why Joshua is not the Protevangelium, cap. 5. mentioned in connection with * See J. G. Frazer, Folk-Lore in "The magical control of the sun," the Old Testament, 1918, 3 vols., Ibid., I, 3ii-i9- XVI THE CHRISTIAN APOCRYPHA 387 prophecy, vision, and miracle, and that with these go, like the obverse face of a coin or medal, their inevitable accom- paniments of divination, demons, and magic. This is also the case in apocryphal literature of the Apoc- New Testament which is now so much less familiar and ac- gospels cessible especially to English readers,^ but which had wide ?f the . . . infancy, currency in the early Christian and medieval periods. We may begin with the apocryphal gospels and more particu- larly those dealing with the infancy and childhood of Christ. Of these two are believed to date from the second century, namely, the Gospel of James or "Gospel of the Infancy" {Protoevangeliiim lacohi) - and the Gospel of St. Thomas, which is mentioned by Hippolytus. However, he cites a sentence which is not in the present text — of which the manuscripts are scanty and for the most part of late date ^ — and the gospel as we have it is not Gnostic, as he says it is, so that our version has probably been altered by some Catholic.^ Later in date is the Latin gospel of the Pseudo- Matthew — perhaps of the fourth or fifth century — and the Arabic Gospel of the Infancy, which is believed to be a translation from a lost Syriac original. We are the worst off of all for manuscripts of its text and apparently there is no Latin manuscript of it now extant, although a Latin * However, the Apocrypha of Tischendorf is Thilo, Codex apoc- the New Testament may be read ryphus Novi Testamenti, Leipzig, in English translation by Alex- 1832; Fabricius, etc. ander Walker in The Ante-Nicene 'It is ascribed to the second Fathers (American edition), VIII, century both by Tischendorf 357-598, and in that by Hone in and The Catholic Encyclopedia 1820, which has since been re- ("Apocrypha," 607). There are printed without change. It in- plenty of fairly early Greek MSS eludes only a part of the apoc- for it. rypha now known and presents ^ The Greek MSS are of the these in a blind fashion without 15th and i6th centuries ; Tischen- explanation. It differs from Tisch- dorf examined only partially a endorf's text of the apocryphal Latin palimpsest of it which is gospels (Evangelia Apocrypha, ed. probably of the fifth century. Tischendorf, Lipsiae, 1876) both ' So argues The Catholic Ency- in the titles of the gospels, the clopedia, 608; Tischendorf seems distribution of the texts under the inclined to date the Gospel of respective titles, and the division Thomas a little later than that of into chapters. I have, however, James, and to hold that we pos- sometimes used Hone's wording sess only a fragment of it. in making quotations. Older than 388 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. text has reached us through the printed editions. Tischen- dorf was, however, "unwilHng to omit in this new collec- tion of the apocryphal gospels that ancient and memorable monument of the superstition of oriental Christians," and for the same reason we shall survey its medley of miracle and magic in the present chapter. Speaking of the flight into Egypt this gospel says, "And the Lord Jesus performed a great many miracles in Egypt which are not found recorded either in the Gospel of the Infancy or in the Perfect Gos- pel." ^ Tischendorf noted the close resemblance of its first nine chapters to the Gospel of James and of chapters 36-55 to the Gospel of Thomas, while the intervening chapters "contain especially fables of the sort you may fittingly call oriental, filled with allusions to Satan and demons and sorceries and magic arts." ^ We find, however, the same sort of fables in the other three apocryphal gospels; there are simply more of them in the Arabic Gospel of the Infancy. It appears to be a compilation and may embody other earlier sources no longer extant as well as passages from the pseudo- James and pseudo-Thomas. Question There is a tendency on the part of orthodox Christian date. scholars to defer the writing of apocryphal works to as late a date as possible, and they seem to have a notion that they can save the credibility or purity of the miracles of the New Testament ^ by representing such miracles as those recorded of the infancy of Christ as the inventions of a later age. And it is probably true that all these marvels were not the invention of a single century but of a succession of * Evang. Inf. Arab., cap. 25, were ready enough both to repeat "fecitque dominus lesus plurima and to invent similar tales, in Egypto miracula quae neque in ^ It may be noted, however, that evangelic infantiae neque in evan- the chief miracles of the Gospels gelio perfecto scripta reperiuntur.'' were attacked as "absurd or un- ' Tischendorf (1876), p. xlviii. worthy of the performer" nearly As I have already intimated on two centuries ago by Thomas other occasions, it seems to me no Woolston in his Discourses on the explanation to call such stories Miracles of our Saviour, 1727- "oriental." Christianity was an 1730. The words in quotation oriental religion to begin with. marks are from J. B. Bury's His- Moreover, as our whole investiga- tory of Freedom of Thought, 1913, tion goes to show, both classical p, 142. antiquity and the medieval west XVI THE CHRISTIAN APOCRYPHA 389 centuries. On the other hand, I know of no reason for thinking Christians of the first century any less credulous than Christians of the fifth century ; it was not until the lat- ter century that Pope Gelasius' condemnation of apocryphal books was drawn up, but apocryphal books had long been in existence before that time; nor for thinking the Chris- tians of the thirteenth century any more credulous than those of the other two centuries. It is only in our own age that Christians have become really critical of such matters. Moreover, these unacceptable miracles, whenever they were invented, were presumably invented by and accepted by Christians, who must bear the discredit for them. What- ever the century was, the same men believed in them who believed in the miracles recorded in the New Testament. If the plant has flowered into such rank superstition, can the original seed escape responsibility? The Arabic Gospel of the Infancy is no doubt an extreme instance of Christian credence in magic, but it is an instance that cannot be over- looked, whatever its date, place, or language. These apocryphal gospels of the Infancy, which are in Their part extant only in Latin, continued to be influential in the j^^fluence. medieval period. At the beginning of it we find included in Pope Gelasius' list of apocryphal works, published at a synod at Rome in 494,^ besides apocryphal gospels of Mat- thew and of Thomas — which last we are told, "the Mani- cheans use" — a Liber de infantia Salvatoris and a Liber de nativitate Salvatoris et de Maria et obstetrice. There are numerous manuscripts of such gospels in the later me- dieval centuries but it would not be safe to attempt to iden- tify or classify them without examining each in detail. As Tischendorf said, the Latins do not seem to have long re- mained content with mere translations of the Greek pseudo- gospel of James but combined the stories told there with others from the Pseudo-Thomas or other sources into new *Migne, PL, 59, i62tf. The list con (IV, 15), and in _ the thir- was reproduced with slight varia- teenth century by Vincent of tions by Hugh of St. Victor in the Beauvais in the Speculum Natu- twelfth century in his Didascali- rale (I, 14). 390 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Resem- blances to Apuleius and Apol- lonius in the Arabic Gospel of the Infancy. apocryphal treatises. Thus the extant Latin apocrypha in no case reproduce the Gospel of James accurately but rather are imitated after it, and include some of it, omit some of it, embellish some of its tales, and add to it.^ Male states in his work on religious art in France in the thirteenth cen- tury that The Gospel of the Pseudo-Matthew and The Gos- pel of Nicodemus or Acts of Pilate were the two apocryphal gospels especially used in the twelfth and thirteenth cen- turies.^ That the fables of the Arabic Gospel of the Infancy were at least not fresh from the orient is indicated by the way in which some of the incidents in the stories of Apuleius and Apollonius of Tyana are closely paralleled,^ In the par- lor of a well furnished house where lived two sisters with their widowed mother stood a mule caparisoned in silk and with an ebony collar about his neck, "whom they kissed and were feeding." * He was their brother, transformed into a mule by the sorcery of a jealous woman one night a little before daybreak, although all the doors of the house were locked at the time. "And we," they tell a girl who had been instantly cured of leprosy by use of perfumed water in which the Christ child had been washed and who had then become the maid-servant of the virgin Mary,^ "have applied to all the wise men, magicians, and diviners in the world, but they have been of no service to us." ^ The girl recom- mends them to consult Mary, who restores their brother to human form by placing the Christ child upon his back. This romantic episode is then brought to a fitting conclusion by the marriage of the brother to the girl who had assisted in his restoration to his right body. As the demon, who ^Tischendorf (1876), pp. xxiii- craft and magic." The resem- XXIV. *Male (1913), pp. 207-8. ' Since writing this, I find that Male has been impressed by the same resemblance. He writes (1913)7 P- 207, "Some chapters in the apocryphal gospels are like the Life of Apollomus of Tyana or even like The Golden Ass, per- meated with the belief in witch- blance to Apuleius is also noted in AN, VIII, 353. * Tischendorf , Evang. Infantiae Arabicum, caps. 20-21. "Ibid., cap. 17. * Ibid., cap. 20, "nullum in mun- do doctum aut magum aut incan- tatorem omisimus quin ilium accerseremus ; sed nihil nobis profuit." XVI THE CHRISTIAN APOCRYPHA 391 in the form of an artful beggar was causing the plague at Ephesus and whom Apollonius had stoned to death, turned at the last moment into a mad dog, so Satan, when forced by the presence of the Christ child to leave the boy Judas, ran away like a mad dog.^ The reviving of a corpse by an Egyptian prophet in the Metamorphoses in order that the dead man may tell who murdered him is paralleled in both the Arabic Infancy and the gospels of Thomas and the Pseudo-Matthew by the conduct of Jesus when accused of throwing another boy down from a house-top. The text reads : "Then the Lord Jesus going down stood over the dead boy and said with a loud voice, 'Zeno, Zeno, who threw you down from the house-top?' Then the dead boy an- swered, 'Lord, thou didst not throw me down, but so-and- so did." 2 Many were the occasions upon which the Christ child or Counter- his mother counteracted the operations of magic or relieved ^aRicand persons who were possessed by demons. Kissing him cured demons. a bride whom sorcerers had made dumb at her wedding,^ and a bridegroom who was kept by sorcery from enjoying his wife was cured of his impotence by the mere presence of the holy family who lodged in his house for the night.* Mary's pitying glance was sufficient to expel Satan from a woman possessed by demons.^ Another upright woman who was often vexed by Satan in the form of a serpent when she went to bathe in the river,® which reminds one somewhat of Olympias and Nectanebus,"^ was permanently cured by kissing the Christ child. And a girl, whose blood Satan used to suck, miraculously discomfited him when he ^Evang. Inf. Arab., cap. 35, side, on which Judas struck him, "Extemplo exivit ex puero illo the Jews pierced with a lance." satanas fugiens cani rabido simi- ^ Ibid., cap. 44; Evang. Thomae lis." The apocryphal gospel adds, Lat., cap. 7 ; Ps. Matth., cap. 32. "This same boy who struck Jesus," 'Evang. Inf. Arab., cap. 15. i..e., while he was still possessed ^ Ibid., cap. 19, "qui veneficio by the demon, "and out of whom tactus uxore f rui non poterat." Satan went in the form of a dog, ^ Ibid., cap. 14. was Judas Iscariot, who betrayed "Ibid., cap. 16. Him to the Jews. And that same ^ See below, chapter 24. 392 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Other miracles and magic by the Christ child. appeared in the shape of a huge dragon by putting upon her head and about her eyes a swaddHng cloth of Jesus which Mary had given to her. Fire then went forth and was scat- tered upon the dragon's head and eyes, as from the Winking eyes of the artful beggar who caused the plague in the Life of Apollonins of Tyana, and he fled in a panic.^ A priest's three-year-old son who was possessed by a great multitude of devils, who uttered many strange things, and who threw stones at everybody, was likewise cured by placing on his head one of Christ's swaddling clothes which Mary had hung out to dry. In this case the devils made their escape through his mouth "in the shape of crows and serpents." ^ Such marvels may offend modern taste but have their prob- able prototype in the miracles wrought by use of Paul's handkerchief and underwear in the New Testament and il- lustrate, like the placing of spittle on the eyes of the blind man, the great healing virtue then ascribed to the perspira- tion and other secretions and excretions of the human body. Sick children as well as lepers were cured by the water in which Jesus had bathed or by wearing coats made of his swaddling clothes,^ while the child Bartholomew was snatched from the very jaws of death by the mere smell of the Christ child's garments the moment he was placed on Jesus' bed.* On the road to Egypt is a balsam which was produced "from the sweat which ran down there from the Lord Jesus." ^ The Christ child cured snake-bite, in the case of his brother James by blowing on it, in the case of his play- fellow, Simon the Canaanite, by forcing the serpent who had stung him to come out of its hole and suck all the poison from the wound, after which he cursed the snake "so that it immediately burst asunder and died," ® When the boy Jesus took all the cloths waiting to be dyed with different colors in a dyer's shop and threw them into the furnace, the dyer began to scold him for this mischief, but the cloths all ^ Evang. Inf. Arab., caps. 33-34. ^ Ibid., cap. 24. ^ Ibid., caps. lo-ii. ''Ibid., caps. 42-43; Ps. Matth., 'Ibid., caps. 27-32. 41; Evang. Thorn. Lat., 14. Colli" * Ibid., cap. 30. pare pp. 279-80 above. XVI THE CHRISTIAN APOCRYPHA 393 came out of the desired colors.^ Jesus also miraculously remedied the defective carpentry of Joseph, who had v^orked for tv^o years on a throne for the king of Jerusalem and made it too short. Jesus and Joseph took hold of the oppo- site sides and pulled the throne out to the required dimen- sions.^ The usual result of the Christ child's miracles was that Sometimes all the bystanders united in praising God. But when his lit- -^j^urious tie playmates went home and told their parents how he had results. made his clay animals walk and his clay birds fly, eat, and drink, their elders said, "Take heed, children, for the future of his company, for he is a sorcerer; shun and avoid him, and from henceforth never play with him," ^ Indeed, if the theory of the fathers is correct that the surest hall-mark by which divine miracles may be distinguished from feats of magic is that the former are never wrought for any evil end while the latter are, it must be admitted that his con- temporaries were sometimes justified in suspecting the Christ child of resort to magic. After his playmates had been thus forbidden to associate with Jesus, they hid from him in a furnace, and some women at a house near by told him that there were not boys but kids in the furnace. Jesus then actually transformed them into kids who came skipping forth at his command.^ It is true that he soon changed them back into human form, and that the women worshiped Christ and asserted their conviction that he was "come to save and not to destroy." But on several subsequent occasions Jesus is represented in the apocryphal gospels of the infancy as causing the death of his playmates. When another boy broke a little fish-pool which Jesus had constructed on the Sabbath day, he said to him, "In like manner as this water has vanished, so shall thy life vanish," and the boy pres- ^ Evang. Inf. Arab., cap. 37. Ad-Damiri, translated by A. S. G. "Ibid., 38-39; Ps. Matth., 37; Jayakar, 1906, I, 703, for a Moslem Evang. Thorn. Lot., 11. tale of Jews who called Jesus "the * Evang. Inf. Arab., cap. 36; Ps. enchanter the son of the en- Matth., 27; Evang. Thorn. Lat., 4. chantress," and were transformed * Evang. Inf. Arab., cap. 40. See into pigs. 394 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Further marvels from the Pseudo- Matthew. Learning of the Christ child. ently died.^ When a third boy ran into Jesus and knocked him down, he said, "As thou hast thrown me down, so shalt thou fall, nor ever rise;" and that instant the boy fell down and died.^ When Jesus' teacher started to whip him, his hand withered and he died. After which we are not sur- prised to hear Joseph say to Mary, "Henceforth we will not allow him to go out of the house; for everyone who dis- pleases him is killed." ^ As has been indicated in the foot-notes many of the foregoing marvels are recounted in the Pseudo-Matthew and Latin Gospel of Thomas as well as in the Arabic Gospel of the Infancy. The Pseudo-Matthew also tells how lions adored the Christ child and were bade by him to go in peace.* And how he "took a dead child by the ear and suspended him from the earth in the sight of all. And they saw Jesus speaking with him like a father with his son. And his spirit returned unto him and he lived again. And all marveled thereat." ^ When a rich man named Joseph died and was lamented, Jesus asked his father Joseph why he did not help his dead namesake. When Joseph asked what there was that he could do, Jesus replied, "Take the handkerchief which is on your head and go and put it over the face of the corpse and say to him, 'May Christ save you.' " Joseph followed these instructions except that he said, "Salvet te lesus," in- stead of "Salvet te Christiis," which was possibly the reason why the dead man upon reviving asked, "Who is Jesus ?" ® While no very elaborate paraphernalia or ceremonial were involved in the miracles ascribed to the Christ child in the Arabic Gospel of the Infancy, it is perhaps worth noting that he was already possessed of all learning and non- plussed his masters, when they tried to teach him the alpha- ^Evang. Inf. Arab., 46; Evang. Thorn. Lat., 4; Ps. Matth., 26, where Mary afterwards induces Jesus to restore him to life, and 28. 'Evang. Inf. Arab., cap. 47; Evang. fhom. Lat., 5 ; Ps. Matth., 29. 'Evang. Inf. Arab., cap. 49; Evang. Thorn. Lat., 12; Ps. Matth., 38. *Ps. Matth., caps. 35-36. ^ Ibid., cap. 29. * Ibid., cap. 40. XVI THE CHRISTIAN APOCRYPHA 395 bet, by asking the most abstruse questions. And when he appeared before the doctors in the temple, he expounded to them not only the books of the law,^ but natural philosophy, astronomy, physics and metaphysics, physiology, anatomy, and psychology. He is represented as telling them "the number of the spheres and heavenly bodies, as also their triangular, square, and sextile aspect ; their progressive and retrograde motion; their twenty- fourths and sixtieths of twenty-fourths" (perhaps corresponding to our hours and minutes!) *'and other things which the reason of man had never discovered." Furthermore, "the powers also of the body, its humors and their effects; also the number of its members, and bones, veins, arteries, and nerves; the several constitutions of the body, hot and dry, cold and moist, and the tendencies of them; how the soul operates upon the body; what its various sensations and faculties are; the faculty of speaking, anger, desire ; and lastly, the manner of the body's composition and dissolution, and other things which the understanding of no creature had ever reached." ^ It may be added that in the apocryphal epistles supposed to have been interchanged between Christ and Abgarus, king of Edessa, that monarch writes to Christ, "I have been in- formed about you and your cures, which are performed without the use of herbs and medicines." ^ Jesus is again accused of magic in The Gospel of Nico- Other demus or Acts of Pontius Pilate, where the Jews tell Pilate of magic that he is a conjurer. After Pilate has been warned by his of^J^f wife, the Jews repeat, "Did we not say unto thee. He is a and the magician? Behold, he hath caused thy wife to dream." * In the Acts of Paul and Thecla, to which Tertullian refers and which are now seen to be an excerpt from the apocry- ^ Later the same gospel (cap. Syriac in the pubHc records of 54) rather inconsistently repre- Edessa. Hone says that it used sents Jesus as engaged in the to be a common practice among study of law until his thirtieth English people to have the epistle year. ascribed to Christ framed and ' Evang. Inf. Arab., caps. 51-52. place a picture of the Saviour be- ' Eusebius states that he dis- fore it. covered these letters written in * Gospel of Nicodcmiis, I, 1-2. apostles. 396 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. The Magi and the star. Alle- gorical zoologj' of Barnabas. phal Acts of Paul, discovered in 1899 in a Coptic papyrus/ the mob similarly cries out against Paul, "He is a magi- cian; away with him." In the Acts of Peter and Andrew ^ they are both accused of being sorcerers by Onesiphorus, who also, however, denies that Peter can make a camel go through the eye of a needle. Nor is he satisfied when the feat is successfully performed with a needle and camel of Peter's selection, but insists upon its being repeated with an animal and instrument of his own selection. Onesiphorus also has "a polluted woman" ride upon his camel's back, apparently with the idea that this will break the magic spell. But Peter sends the camel through the eye of the needle, "which opened up like a gate," as successfully as before, and also back again through it once more from the opposite direction. Some details are added by the apocrypha to the account of the star at Christ's birth. The Arabic Gospel states that Zoroaster (Zeraduscht) had predicted the coming of the Magi, that Mary gave the Magi one of Christ's swaddling clothes, that they were guided on their homeward journey by an angel in the form of the star which had led them to Bethlehem, and that after their return they found that the swaddling cloth would not burn in fire.^ The Epistle of Ignatius to the EpJiesians states that this star shone with a brightness far exceeding all others, filling men with fear, and that with its coming the power of magic was destroyed and the new kingdom of God ushered in."* In the apocryphal Epistle of Barnabas occurs some of that allegorical zoology which we are apt to associate es- pecially with the Physiologus. In its ninth chapter the hy- ena and weasel are adduced as examples of its contention that the Mosaic distinction between clean and unclean ani- mals has a spiritual meaning. Thus the command not to eat the hyena means not to be an adulterer or corrupter of *CE, Apocrypha, p. 611. ' Greek text in Tischendorf, Apocalypses Apocryph., pp. 161-7; English translation, The Ante- Nicene Fathers, VIII, 526-7. ' Evang. Inf. Arab., 7-8. * Cap. 19 (AN, I, 57). XVI THE CHRISTIAN APOCRYPHA 397 others, for the hyena changes its sex annually. The weasel which conceives with its mouth signifies persons with un- clean mouths. In the Acts of Barnabas he cures the sick of Cyprus by laying a copy of the Gospel of Matthew upon their bodies.^ If we turn again to the various apocryphal Acts, where Traces of we have already noted charges of magic made against the j^ ^he apostles, we may find traces of gnosticism which have al- apocryphal ready been noted by Anz.^ In the Acts of Thomas the Holy Ghost is called the pitying mother of seven houses whose rest is the eighth house of heaven. In the Acts of Philip that apostle prays, "Come now, Jesus, and give me the eter- nal crown of victory over every hostile power . . . Lord Jesus Christ . . . lead me on . . . until I overcome all the cosmic powers and the evil dragon who opposes us. Now therefore Lord Jesus Christ make me to come to Thee in the air." The Acts of John, too, speak of overcoming fire and darkness and angels and demons and archons and powers of darkness who separate man from God. We deal in another chapter with the struggle of the Legend apostles with Simon Magus as recounted in the apocryphal ° •'° "* Acts of Peter and Paul, and with similar legends of the con- tests of other apostles with magicians. Here, however, we may mention some of the marvels in the apocryphal legend of St. John, supposed to have been written by his disciple Procharus and "which deluded the Greek Church by its air of sincerity and its extreme precision of detail," ^ although it does not seem to have reached the west until the sixteenth century. John is represented as drinking without injury a poison which had killed two criminals, and as reviving two corpses without going near them by directing an incredulous pagan to lay his cloak over them. A Stoic philosopher had ^ Ante-Nicene Fathers, VIII, 'Male (1913), 299. For the 494. text of this apocryphal work see ' W. Anz, Zur Frage nach Migne, Dictionnaire des Apocry- deni Ursprung des Gnostisisnus phcs, II, 759, et seq.. or more (1897), pp. 36-41. Lipsius ct recently, Bonnet, Acta aposto- Bonnet, Acta apostolorum apoc- lorum apocrypha, 1898, II, 151- rypha, 1891-. 216. 398 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Legend of St. Sousnjnos. persuaded some young men to embrace the life of poverty by converting their property into gems and then pounding the gems to pieces. John made the criticism that this wealth might have better been distributed among the poor, and when challenged to do so by the Stoic, prayed to God and had the gems made whole again. Later when the young men longed for their departed wealth, he turned the pebbles on the seashore into gold and precious stones, a miracle which is said to have persuaded the medieval alchemists that he possessed the secret of the philosopher's stone. ^ At any rate Adam of St. Victor in the twelfth century wrote the following lines concerning St. John in a chant to be used in the church service : Cum gemmarum partes fractas Solidasset, has distractas Tribuit pauperibus; Inexhaustum fert thesaurum Qui de virgis fecit aurum, Gemmas de lapidibus.^ The brief legend of St. Sousnyos, which Basset has included in his edition of Ethiopian Apocrypha,^ is all magic, beginning with an incantation or magic prayer against disease and demons. There is also a Slavonic ver- sion. This Sousnyos is presumably the same as the Sisin- nios who is said by the author of the apocryphal Acts of Archelans,'^ forged about 330-340 A. D., to have abandoned Mani, embraced Christianity, and revealed to Archelaus secret teachings which enabled him to triumph over his ad- versary. ^Male (1913), 300. But one would think that they must needs be Byzantine alchemists, if the legend did not reach the west until the sixteenth century. 'HL, XV, 42. When the gems, all smashed to pieces. He had mended, then their prices To the poor he handed ; Quite exhaustless was his treasure Who from sticks made gold at pleasure, Gems from stones commanded. ' Rene Basset, Les apocryphes £thiopiens, Paris, 1893- 1894, vol. iv. *See Migne, PG, X (1857), for the old Latin version; the Greek text is extant only in fragments ; the tradition, going back to Jerome, that there was a Syriac original is unfounded ; the work is first cited by Cyril. XVI THE CHRISTIAN APOCRYPHA 399 While on the subject, mention may be made of two Old Testa- works which properly belong to the apocrypha of the Old ap^ocrypha Testament, but which first appear during the Christian era of the and so fall within our period. The Ascension of Isaiah,^ of era. which the old Latin version was printed at Venice in 1 522, and which dates back to the second century, is something like the Book of Enoch, describing Isaiah's ascent through the seven heavens and vision of the mission of Christ. In the Book of Bctruch, of which the original version was writ- ten in Greek by a Christian of the third or fourth century,^ the most interesting episode is the magic sleep into which, like Rip Van Winkle, Abimelech falls during the destruc- tion of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. In the legend of Jere- miah the prophet's soul is absent from his body on one oc- casion for three days, while on another occasion he dresses up a stone to impersonate himself before the populace who are trying to stone him to death, in order that he may gain time to make certain revelations to Abimelech and Baruch. When he has had his say, the stone asks the people why they persist in stoning it instead of Jeremiah, against whom they then turn their missiles.^ Such is no exhaustive listing but rather a few examples of the encouragement given to belief in magic by the Chris- tian Apocrypha. * The Ethiopic version, made and Box, Translations of Early from the Greek between the fifth Documents, Series I, vol. 7. and seventh centuries, is translated ' The fragments of the Book of by Basset (1894), vol. iii ; and Baruch by Justin, preserved in was printed before him by Dill- the Philosophumena of Hippoly- mann, Asccnsio Isaiae aethiopice tus, are from an entirely different et latine, Leipzig, 1877, and by Gnostic work. Laurence, Ascensio Isaiae vatis, * R. Basset, Les apocryphes opusculum pseudepigraphus, Ox- ^thiopiens, Paris, 1893- 1894, vol, ford, 1819. See also R. H. i, Le Lizve de Baruch et la Charles, Ascension of Isaiah, legende de Jeremie. 1900; reprinted 1917 in Oesterley CHAPTER XVII THE RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT AND SIMON MAGUS The Pseudo-Clementines — Was Rufinus the sole medieval version? • — Previous Greek versions — Date of the original version — Internal evi- dence— Resemblances to Apuleius and Philostratus — Science and re- ligion— Interest in natural science — God and nature — Sin and nature — Attitude to astrology — Arguments against genethlialogy — The virtuous Seres — Theory of demons — Origin of magic — Frequent accusations of magic — Marvels of magic — How distinguish miracle from magic? — Deceit in magic — Murder of a boy — Magic is evil — Magic is an art — Other accounts of Simon Magus : Justin Martyr to Hippolytus — Peter's account in the Didascalia et Constitutiones Apostolorum — Arnobius, Cyril, and Philastrius — Apocryphal Acts of Peter and Paul — An ac- count ascribed to Marcellus — Hegesippus — A sermon on Simon's fall — Simon Magus in medieval art. "The Truth herself shall receive thee a wanderer and a stranger, and enroll thee a citizen of her own city." — Recognitions I, 13. The The starting-point and chief source for this chapter will Ckmen^ be the writings known as the Pseudo-Clementines and more tines. particularly the Latin version commonly called The Recog- nitions. We shall then note other accounts of its villain- hero, Simon Magus, in patristic literature.^ The Pseudo- *Text of The Recognitions \n Migne, PG, I ; of The Homilies in PG, II, or P. de Lagarde, Clem- entina, 1865. E. C. Richardson had an edition of The Recog- nitions in preparation in 1893, when a list of some seventy MSS communicated by him was pub- lished in A. Harnack's Gesch. d. altchr. Lit., I, 229-30, but it has not yet appeared. In quoting The Recognitions I often avail myself of the language of the English translation in the Ante-Nicene Fathers. Since A. Hilgenf eld. Die klement. Rekogn. u. Homilien, 1848, the Pseudo-Clementines have pro- vided a much frequented field of research and controversy, of which the articles in CE, EB, and Realencyklop'ddie (1913), XXIII, 312-6, provide fairly recent sum- maries from varying ecclesiastical standpoints. For bibliography see pp. 4-5 in the recent monograph of W. Heintze, Der Klemensro- m,a'n mid seine griechischen Quel- len, 1914, in TU, XL, 2. In the same series, TU, XXV, 4, H 400 CHAP. XVII l-t^£* RECOGNITIONS AND SIMON MAGUS 401 Clementines, as the name implies, are works or different versions of one work ascribed to Clement of Rome, who is represented as writing to James, the brother of the Lord, an account of events and discussions in which he and the apostle Peter had participated not long after the crucifixion. This Pseudo-Clementine literature has a double character, combining romantic narrative concerning Peter, Simon Magus, and the family of Clement with long, argumentative, didactic, and doctrinal discussions and dialogues in which the same persons participate but Peter takes the leading and most authoritative part. Not only the authorship, origin, and date, but even the title or titles and the make-up and arrangement of the various versions and their original are doubtful or disputed matters. The versions now extant and published seem by no means to have been the only ones, but we will describe them first. In Greek we have the ver- sion known as The Homilies in twenty books, in which the didactic element preponderates. It is extant in only two manuscripts of the twelfth and fourteenth centuries at Paris and Rome,^ but is also preserved in part in epitomes. Dif- ferent from it is the Latin version in which the narrative element plays a greater part. This Latin version, now usually referred to as The Rec- Was ognitions, because the main point in its plot is the successive the sole bringing together again of, and recognition of one another medieval ° ° version ? by, the members of a family long separated, is the trans- lation made by Rufinus, who is last heard from in 410. It is usually divided into ten books. Numerous manuscripts of this version attest its popularity and influence in the mid- dle ages, when we early find Isidore of Seville quoting Waitz, Die Pseudo-Klementinen, origine Pseudo-Clementinorum, 1904- Diss, inaug., Warsaw, 1866; G. R. Concerning Simon Magus may S. Mead (Fellow of the Theo- be mentioned: H. Schlurick, De sophical Society), Simon Magus, Simonis Magi fatis Romanis; A. 1892; H. Waitz, Simon Magus in Hilgenfeld, Der Magier Simon, in d. altchr. Lit., in Zeitschr. f. d. Zeitschr. f. wiss. Thcol., XII neutest. IViss., V (1904), 121-43. (1869), 353 ff-; G. Frommberger, ' BN, Greek, 930; Ottobon, 443. De Sitnone Mago, Pars I, De 402 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Clement several times as an authority on natural science.^ Arevalus, however, thought that Isidore used some other version of the Pseudo-Clementines than that of Rufinus,^ and in the medieval period another title was common, namely, The Itinerary of Clement, or The Itinerary of Peter.^ WiUiam of Auvergne, for instance, in the first half of the thirteenth century cites the Itinerarium dementis or "Book of the disputations of Peter against Simon Magus." * This Itinerary of Clement also heads the list of works condemned as apocryphal by Pope Gelasius at a synod at Rome in 494,^ a list reproduced by Vincent of Beauvais in his Speculum naturale in the thirteenth century ^ and in the previous cen- tury rather more accurately by Hugh of St. Victor in his Didascalicon.'^ In all three cases the full title is given in practically the same words, "The Itinerary by the name of the Apostle Peter which is called Saint Clement's, an apocryphal work in eight books." ® Here we encounter a difficulty, since as we have said The Recognitions are in ten books. We find, however, that in another passage ^ Vin- cent correctly cites the ninth book of The Recognitions as Clement's ninth book, and that the number of books into which The Recognitions is divided varies in the manu- scripts, and that they, too, more often call it The Itinerary of Clement or even apply other designations. Rabanus Maurus in the ninth century quotes an utterance of the apostle Peter from The History of Saint Clement, but the passage is found in The Recognitions.^^ Vincent of Beauvais also * Isidore, De natura rerum, * Vincent of Beauvais, 5'/'ecM^Mfw caps, xxxi, xxxvi, xxxix-xli (PL, naturale, 1485, I, 14. 83, 1003-12). ■'PL, 176, 787-8, Erudit. Didasc, 'PL, 83, 1003, note, "Sunt haec IV, 15. lib. VIII Recognitionum sed ap- * "Itinerarium nomine Petri paret Isidoruni alia interpretatione apostoli quod appellatur sancti usum ac dubitare posse an ea quae Clementis libri octo apocryphum circumfertur Rufini sit." (or, apocryphi)." 'See CU, Trinity 1041, 14th ^Speculum naturale, XXXII, century, fols. 7-105, "Inc. pro- 129, concerning the morality of logus in librum quern moderni the Seres, itinerarium beati Petri vocant." " Compare Recognitions, I, 27 *Valois (1880), p. 204. (PG, I, 122) with Rabanus, Com- 'PL, 59, 162, "Notitia librorum ment. in Genesim, I, 2 (PL, 107, apocryphorum qui non recipiun- 450). tur." XVII THE RECOGNITIONS AND SIMON MAGUS 403 quotes "the blessed apostle Peter in a certain letter attached to The Itinerary of Clernent." No letter by Peter is pre- faced to the printed text of The Recognitions, nor does Ru- finus mention such a letter, although he does speak in his preface of a letter by Clement which he has already trans- lated elsewhere. Prefixed to the printed Homilies, how- ever, and in the manuscripts found also with The Recog- nitions, are letters of Peter and Clement respectively to James. But the passage quoted by Vincent does not occur in either, but comes from the tenth book of The Recogni- tions} It would seem, therefore, despite variations in the number of books and in the arrangement of material, that the Latin version by Rufinus was the only one current in the middle ages, but we cannot be sure of this until all the ex- tant manuscripts have been more carefully examined.^ The version by Rufinus differed from previous ones not Previous only in being in Latin but also in various omissions which yerTions. he admits he made and perhaps other changes to suit it to his Latin audience. That there was already more than one version in Greek he shows in his preface by describing an- other text than that upon which his translation or adaptation was based. Neither of these two Greek texts appears to have been the same as the present Homilies.^ Yet The Homilies were apparently in existence at that time, since a Syriac manuscript of 411 A. D. contains four books of The Homilies and three of The Recognitions,'^ thus in itself * Speculum naturale, I, 7. Peter is represented as saying, "When anyone has derived from divine Scripture a sound and firm rule of truth, it will not be absurd if to the assertion of true dogma he joins something from the educa- tion and liberal studies which he may have pursued from boyhood. Yet so that in all points he teaches what is true and shuns what is false and pretense." This corre- sponds to the close of the 42nd chapter of the tenth book of The Recognitions. ' Since writing this I learn that Professor E. C. Richardson has examined most of the known MSS of The Recognitions and has found them all to be the version by Rufinus, except for a few addi- tional chapters which someone has added in the French group of MSS, — chapters which Rufinus seems to have omitted because they were difficult to translate. ^ Heintze (1914), 23, however, argues that the conclusion of The Recognitions is dependent upon The Homilies. * Professor E. C. Richardson, after kindly reading this chapter in manuscript, writes me (Sept. 5, 1921) that he doubts if this Syriac 404 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. furnishing an illustration of the ease with which new ver- sions might be compounded from old. Both The Homilies and The Recognitions as they have reached us would seem to be confusions and perversions of this sort, as their inci- dents are obviously not arranged in correct order. For in- stance, when the story of The Recognitions begins Christ is still alive and reports of His miracles are reaching Rome ; the same year Barnabas pays a visit to Rome and Clement almost immediately follows him back to Syria, making the passage from Rome to Caesarea in fifteen days;^ but on his arrival there he meets Peter who tells him that "a week of years" have elapsed since the crucifixion and of other in- tervening events involving a considerable lapse of time. Or again, in the third book of The Recognitions Simon is said to have sunk his magical paraphernalia in the sea and gone to Rome, but as late as the tenth and last book we find him still in Antioch and with enough paraphernalia left to trans- form the countenance of Faustus. Date Yet this late and misarranged version on which Rufinus °^.^^^ , bases his text must have been already in existence for some original _ -^ version. time, since he confesses that he has been a long while about his translation. The virgin Sylvia who "once enjoined it upon" him to "render Clement into our language" is now spoken of as "of venerable memory," and it is to Bishop Gaudentius that Rufinus "after many delays" in his old age "at length" presents the work. We might thus infer that the original and presumably more self-consistent Pseudo- Clementine narrative, which Rufinus evidently does not use, must date back to a much earlier period. We hear from other sources of The Circuits or Periodoi of Peter by Clem- ent, but this may have been the version translated by Ru- MS is correctly described as three forms in Greek, and there are cer- books of The Recognitions and tainly other oriental compilations four books of The Homilies, and not yet brought into comparison that he thinks it may represent an with the Greek, Latin, and Syriac earlier form in the evolution than forms." either of them. He writes further, ^ In The Homilies it is a trip "I have a strong notion that a only from Alexandria to Caesarea study of Greek MSS of the Epi- that consumes this number of tomes will reveal still more variant days. evidence. XVII THE RECOGNITIONS AND SIMON MAGUS 405 finus.^ Conservative Christian scholars regard as the old- est unmistakable allusion to the Pseudo-Clementines that by Eusebius early in the fourth century, who, without giving any specific titles, speaks of certain "verbose and lengthy writings, containing dialogues of Peter forsooth and Apion," which are ascribed to Clement but are really of recent origin. As for the date of the original work from which Homilies and Recognitions are derived,^ from 200 to 280 A. D. is sug- gested by Harnack and his school, who take middle ground between the extreme contentions of Hilgenfeld and Chap- man. But the original Pseudo-Clement is supposed to have utilized The Teachings of Peter and The Acts of Peter, which Waitz would date between 135 and 210 A. D.^ The work itself, even in the perverted form preserved Internal by Rufinus, makes pretensions to the highest Christian an- tiquity. Not only is it addressed to James and put into the mouth of Clement, but Paul is never mentioned, and no book of the New Testament is cited by name, while sayings of Jesus are cited which are not found in the Bible. Christ is often alluded to in a veiled and mystic fashion as "the true prophet," who had appeared aforetime to Abraham and Moses, and interesting and vivid incidental glimpses are given of what purports to be the life of an early Christian community and perhaps is that of the Ebionites, Essenes, or some Gnostic sect. Emphasis is laid upon the purifying power of baptism, upon Peter's practice of bathing early every morning, preferably in the sea or running water, upon secret prayers and meetings, a separate table for the initi- ated, esoteric discussions of religion at cock-crow and in the night, and upon power over demons. All this may be mere clever invention, but there certainly is an atmosphere of verisimilitude about it; and it is rather odd that a later ^ About 375 A.D. Epiphanius Gregory, cites a passage on as- (Dindorf, II, 107-9) describes The trology from the fourteenth book Circuits in such a way that he of The Circuits which is in the might have either The Homilies or tenth book of The Recognitions The Recognitions in mind. On the and not in The Homilies at all, other hand, the Philocalia, com- ^ Heintze (1914), p. 113. posed about 358 by BasU ^nd 'Waitz (1904), pp. 151 and 243. 4o6 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Resem- blances to Apuleius and Phi- lostratus. writer should be "very careful to avoid anachronisms," in whose account as it now stands are such glaring chronologi- cal confusions as those already noted concerning Clement's voyage to Caesarea and Simon's departure for Rome. But, as in the case of the New Testament Apocrypha, the exact date of composition makes little difference for our purpose, for which it is enough that the Pseudo-Clementines played an important part in the first thirteen centuries of Christian thought viewed as a whole. Eusebius and Epiphanius may find them unpalatable in certain respects and reject them as heretical, but Basil and Gregory utilize their arguments against astrology. Gelasius may classify them as apocry- phal, but Vincent of Beauvais justifies a discriminating use of the apocryphal books in general and cites this one in particular more than once as an authority, and the incidents of its story were embodied, as we shall see, in medieval art. The same resemblance to the works of Apuleius and Philostratus that we noted in the case of an apocryphal gos- pel is observable in the Pseudo-Clementines. We see in The Recognitions the same mixed interest in natural science and in magic combined with religion and romantic incident that characterized the variegated and motley page of the author of the Metamorphoses and the biographer of Apollonius of Tyana. It is probably only a coincidence that two of the works of Apuleius are dedicated to a Faustinus whom he calls "my son," while Clement's father is named Faustus or Faustinianus, and the legend of Faust is believed to orig- inate with him and the episodes in which he is concerned.-^ Less accidental may be the connection between Peter's re- ligious sea-bathing and that purification in the sea by which the hero of the Metamorphoses began the process by which he succeeded in regaining his lost human form. More con- siderable are the detailed parallels to the work of Philps- tratus.^ Peter corresponds roughly to Apollonius and Clem- * See E. C. Richardson in Papers of the American Society of Church History, VI (1894). ' Neither Philostratus nor Apol- lonius of Tyana is mentioned, however, in the index of W, XVII THE RECOGNITIONS AND SIMON MAGUS 4^7 ent to Damis, while the wizards and magi are ably personi- fied by the famous Simon Magus. If Apollonius abstained from all meat and wine and wore linen garments, Peter lives upon "bread alone, with olives, and seldom even with pot- herbs; and my dress," he says, "is what you see, a tunic with a pallium : and having these, I require nothing more." ^ Like Philostratus the Pseudo-Clement speaks of bones of enormous size which are still to be seen as proof of the ex- istence of giants in former ages; ^ and the accounts of the Brahmans and allusions to the Scythians in the Life of Apollonius of Tyana are paralleled in The Recognitions by a series of brief chapters on these and other strange races.' Peter is, of course, a Jew, not a Hellene like Apollonius, but in his train are men who are thoroughly trained in Greek philosophy and capable of discussing its problems at length. They also are not without appreciation of pagan art and turn aside, with Peter's consent, to visit a temple upon an island and "to gaze earnestly" upon "the wonderful col- umns" and "very magnificent works of Phidias." ^ Just as Apollonius knew all languages without having ever studied them, so Peter is so filled with the Spirit of God that he is "full of all knowledge" and "not ignorant even of Greek learning" ; but to descend from his usual divine themes to discuss it is considered to be rather beneath him. Clement, however, felt the need of coaching Peter up a little in Greek mythology.^ This mingled attitude of contempt for "the babblings of the Greeks" when compared to divine revela- tion, and of respect for Greek philosophy when compared with anything else is, it is hardly necessary to say, a very- common one with Christian writers throughout the Rom^an Empire. The same attitude prevails toward natural science. At Science the very beginning of the Clementines the curiosity of the religion. Heintze's Dcr Klemensroman und in the corresponding chapter of seine griechischen Quellen (1914), The Homilies. VIII, 15. 144 pp. ^ Recogs., IX, 19-29. ^Recogs.,Vll,6. * Recogs., Yll, 12. ^ Recogs., I, 29; not mentioned * Recogs., X, 15, et seq. 4o8 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. fnterest in natural science. ancient world in regard to things of nature is shown by the question which someone propounded to Barnabas when he began to preach, at Rome according to The Recognitions, at Alexandria according to The Homilies, of the Son of God. The heckler wanted to know why so small a creature as a fly has not only six feet but wings in addition, while the elephant, despite its enormous bulk, has only four feet and no wings at all. Barnabas did not answer the question, al- though he asserted that he could if he wished to, making the excuse that it was not fitting to speak of mere creatures to those who were still ignorant of their Creator.^ This unwillingness to discuss natural questions by no means continues characteristic of the Clementines, however. Not only does Peter explain to Clement the creation of the world and propound the extraordinary ^ doctrine that after completing the process of creation God "set an angel as chief over the angels, a spirit over the spirits, a star over the stars, a demon over the demons, a bird over the birds, a beast over the beasts, a serpent over the serpents, a fish over the fishes," and "over men a man who is Christ Jesus. ^ Not only does he later in public defend baptism with water on the ground that "all things are produced from waters" and that waters were first created.* We also find Niceta accepting the Greek hypothesis of four elements, of the sphericity of the universe, and of the motions of the heav- enly bodies "assigned to them by fixed laws and periods," cit- ing Plato's Timaeus, mentioning Aristotle's introduction of a fifth element,^ disputing the atomic theory of Epicurus,^ and alluding to "mechanical science." "^ He further dis- cusses the generation of plants, animals, and human beings as evidences of divine design and providence,^ in which con- nection he collects a number of examples of marvelous gen- * Recogs., I, 8; Homilies, I, lo. ' Extraordinary, of course, only in that single animals instead of angels, as in the Enoch literature, are set over birds, beasts, serpents, etc. ' Recogs., I, 27 and 45. * Recogs., VI, 8. 'Recogs., VIII, 9, 20-22. ^Recogs., VIII, 15-17. "Recogs., VIII, 21. "Recogs., VIII, 25-32. XVII THE RECOGNITIONS AND SIMON MAGUS 409 eration of animals such as moles from earth and vipers from ashes, and affirms that "the crow conceives through the mouth and the weasel generates through the ear." ^ Simon Magus declared himself immortal on the theory, which we shall find cropping out again in the thirteenth century in Roger Bacon and Peter of Abano, that his flesh was "so compacted by the power of his divinity that it can endure to eternity." ^ On the other hand, Niceta describes the ac- tion of the intestines in a fairly intelligent manner,^ and tells how the blood flows like water from a fountain, "and first borne along in one channel, and then spreading through in- numerable veins as through canals, irrigates the entire ter- ritory of the human body with vital streams." ■* A little later on Aquila gives a natural explanation of rainbows.^ There is noticeable, it is true, a tendency, common in God and patristic literature and found even among those fathers who "^^"'^^• hold the dualism of the Manichees in the deepest detesta- tion, to make a distinction between God and nature and to attribute any flaws in the universe to the latter.® Niceta cannot agree with "those who speak of nature instead of God and declare that all things were made by nature" ; he holds that God created the universe. But Aquila, who sup- ports his brother in the discussion, seems to think that God's responsibility for the universe ceased, at least in part, after it was once created. At any rate he admits that "in this world some things are done in an orderly and some in a dis- orderly fashion. Those things therefore," he continues, "that are done rationally, believe that they are done by Prov- idence ; but those that are done irrationally and inordinately, believe that they befall naturally and happen accidentally." ''' But even nature sometimes rises up against the sins of Sin and mankind according to Peter and his associates, Aquila be- ^On the other hand, in the * Recogs.,ll, y. apocryphal Epistle of Barnabas, ' Recogs., VIII, 31. IX, 9, it is stated that the weasel * Recogs., VIII, 30. conceives with its mouth and '^ Recogs., VIII, 42. hence typifies persons with un- ' Recogs., VIII, 34, clean mouths. ' Recogs., VIII, 44. 4IO MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. lieves that the sins of men are the cause of pestilences;^ that "when chastisement is inflicted upon men according to the will of God, he" (i. e. the Sun, already called "that good servant" and whom the early Christians found it difficult to cease to personify) "glows more fiercely and burns up the world with more vehement fires" ; ^ and that "those who have become acquainted with prophetic discourse know when and for what reason blight, hail, pestilence, and such like have occurred in every generation, and for what sins these have been sent as a punishment." ^ Peter gives the impres- sion that nature sometimes acts rather independently of God in thus punishing the wicked. He says : "But this also I would have you know, that upon such souls God does not take vengeance directly, but His whole creation rises up and inflicts punishments upon the impious. And although in the present world the goodness of God bestows the light of the world and the services of the earth alike upon the pious and the impious, yet not without grief does the Sun afford his light and the other elements perform their services to the impious. And, in short, sometimes even in opposition to the goodness of the Creator, the elements are worn out by the crimes of the wicked ; and hence it is that either the fruit of the earth is blighted, or the composition of the air is vitiated, or the heat of the sun is increased beyond measure, or there is an excess of rain or cold." * This is a close approach to the notion of The Book of Enoch that human sin upsets the world of nature, and an even closer approach to the theory of the Brahmans in The Life of Apollonius of Tyana that prolonged drought is a punishment visited by the world-soul upon human sinfulness. Attitude Such vestiges of the world-soul doctrine, such a tend- trology. ^^^y ^^ ascribe emotion and will to the elements and planets, to personify them, and to think of God as ruling the world indirectly through them, prepare us to find an attitude rather favorable to astrological theory. Indeed, in the first book ^Recogs., VIII, 45. * Recogs., VIII, 47. 'Recogs.. VIII, 46. * Recogs., V, 27, XVII THE RECOGNITIONS AND SIMON MAGUS 4" of The Recognitions ^ we are told in so many words that the Creator adorned the visible heaven with stars, sun, and moon in order that "they might be for an indication of things past, present, and future," and that these celestial signs, while seen by all, are "understood only by the learned and intelligent." Astrology is respectfully described as "the science of mathesis," ^ and, as was common in the Roman Empire, astrologers are called mathematici.^ A de- fender even of the most extreme pretensions of the art is not abused as a charlatan but is courteously greeted as "so learned a man," * and all admire his eloquence, grave man- ners, and calm speech, and accord him a respectful hearing.^ Astrology, far from being regarded as necessarily contrary to religion, is thought to furnish arguments for the exist- ence of God, and it is said that Abraham, "being an astrolo- ger, was able from the rational system of the stars to recog- nize the Creator, while all other men were in error, and understood that all things are regulated by His Provi- dence."'® The number seven is somewhat emphasized '^ and the twelve apostles are called the twelve months of Christ who is the acceptable year of the Lord.^ Somewhat simi- larly the Gnostic followers of the heretic Valentinus made much of the Duodecad, a group of twelve aeons, and be- lieved, according to Irenaeus, "that Christ suffered in the twelfth month. For their opinion is that He continued to preach for one year only after His baptism." ^ Peter, too, has a group of twelve disciples. ^*^ Niceta speaks of "man who is a microcosm in the great world." ^^ It is admitted that the stars exert evil as well as good influence,^ ^ and that the astrologer "can indicate the evil desire which malign ^ Recogs., I, 28. ' Recogs., I, 32. ' Recogs., VIII, 57, "f rater meus ^Recogs., I, 21, 43, 72. Clemens tibi diligentius responde- 'Recogs., IV, 35. bit qui plenius scientiam mathesis " Irenaeus, I, 3. attigit; IX, 18, "quoniam quidem ^'' Recogs., Ill, 68. scientia mihi mathesis nota est." ^Recogs., VIII, 28, "qui eat 'Recogs., X, 11-12. parvus in aHo mundus." -Recogs., IX, 18. "Recogs., VIII, 45. 'Recogs., VIII, 2. 412 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. virtue produces." -^ But it is contended that, "possessing freedom of the will, we sometimes resist our desires and sometimes yield to them," and that no astrologer can pre- dict beforehand which course we will take. Argu- In fine, astrology is criticized adversely only when it against &o^s to the length of contending that "there is neither any genethli- God, nor any worship, neither is there any Providence in the world, but all things are done by fortuitous chance and genesis"; that "whatever your genesis contains, that shall befall you" ; ^ and that the constellations force men to commit murder, adultery, and other crimes.^ On this point Niceta and Aquila, and finally Clement himself, have long discus- sions with an aged adept in genethlialogy which fill a large portion of the last three books of The Recognitions, and include a dozen chapters which are little more than an ex- tract from The Laws of Countries of Bardesanes. Divine Providence and human free will are defended, and genethlialogy is represented as an error which has received confirmation through the operations of demons.^ It is asserted that men can be kept from committing crimes by fear of punishment and by law, even if they are naturally so inclined, and races like the Seres (Chinese) and Brahmans are adduced as examples of entire races of men who never commit the crimes into which men are supposed to be forced by the constellations. The argument is also advanced, "Since God is righteous and since He Himself made human nature, how could it be that He should place genesis in opposition to us, which should compel us to sin, and then that He should punish us when we do sin ?" ^ It is further charged that the constellations are so complicated, ^ Recogs., X, 12. In Homilies, Homilies, however, Peter argues XIV, 5, the existence of astrologi- that, even if Genesis prevails, cal medicine is implied wlien which he does not admit, still he Peter promises to cure by prayer can "worship Him who is also to God any bodily ill, even "if it is Lord of the stars," and that the utterly incurable and entirely be- doctrine of genesis is far more yond the range of the medical destructive to polytheism and profession — a case, indeed, which pagan worship, not even the astrologers profess to " Recogs., IX, 16-17. cure." * Recogs., IX, 6 and 12. 'Recogs., VIII, 2. In The " Recogs., IX, 30. XVII THE RECOGNITIONS AND SIMON MAGUS 413 that for any given moment one astrologer may infer a favor- able and another a disastrous influence/ and that most suc- cessful explanations of the effects of the stars are made after the event, like dreams of which men can make nothing at the time, but "when any event occurs, then they adapt what they saw in the dream to what has occurred." ^ Finally the aged defender of genesis, who believed that his own fate and that of his wife had been accurately prescribed by their horoscopes, turns out to be Faustinianus (called Faustus in The Homilies) , the long-lost father of Clement, Niceta, and Aquila; is also restored to his wife; and learns that his previous interpretation of events from the stars was quite erroneous.^ The ideal picture of the Seres or Chinese, "who dwell The at the beginning of the world," which The Recognitions Seres, apparently borrows from Bardesanes, is perhaps worth re- peating here as an odd admission that a non-Christian peo- ple can attain a state of moral perfection and sinlessness, as well as an interesting bit of ancient ethnology. "In all that country which is very large there is neither temple nor image nor harlot nor adulteress, nor is any thief brought to trial. But neither is any man ever slain there. . . . For this reason they are not chastened with those plagues of which we have spoken; they live to extreme old age, and die without sickness." ^ Perhaps these virtuous Seres are the blameless Hyperboreans in another guise. Demons and angels abound in The Recognitions. One Theory of may be rebuked and scourged at night by an angel of God.^ Peter says that every nation has an angel, since God has divided the earth into seventy-two sections and appointed an angel as governor and prince of each.^ Once, before be- ginning to preach, Peter expelled demons from a number of persons in the audience.''' In another passage is described the cure of a girl of twenty-seven who for twenty years ^ Recogs., X, 11. ' Recogs., X, 66. 'Recogs., X, 12. ' Recogs., II, 42. ' Recogs.j IX, 32-7. ^ Recogs., IV, 7. *Recogs., IX, 19, and VIII, 48. 414 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. had been vexed by an unclean spirit and had been shut up in a closet in chains because of her violence and superhuman strength. The mere presence of Peter put this demon to rout and the chains fell off the girl of their own accord.^ Besides these personal encounters with demons, the theory of demoniacal possession is discussed more than once, and anything of which the author does not approve, such as the art of horoscopes, heathen oracles, the excesses of pagan rites and festivals, and the animal gods of the Egyptians, is attributed to the influence of demons.^ One becomes sus- ceptible to demoniacal possession who eats meat sacrificed to idols or who merely eats and drinks immoderately.^ Demons are apt to get into the very bowels of those who frequent drunken banquets.^ Incontinence, too, is accom- panied by demons whose "noxious breath" produces *'an intemperate and vicious progeny. , . . And therefore par- ents are responsible for their children's defects of this sort, because they have not observed the law of intercourse." '^ As much care should be taken in human generation as in the sowing of crops. But while demons abound, God has given every Christian power over them, since they may be driven out by uttering "the threefold name of blessedness." ^ More- over, "what is spoken by the true God, whether by prophets or varied visions, is always true; but what is foretold by demons is not always true." "^ Origin of With demons is associated the origin of the magic art. "Certain angels .. . . taught men that demons could be made to obey man by certain arts, that is, by magical invoca- tions." ^ The first magicians were Ham and his son Mes- raim, from whom the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Assyrians are descended, and who tried to draw sparks from the stars ® but set himself on fire "and was consumed by the demon * Recogs., IX, 38. ' Recogs., IV, 21. *Recogs., IX, 6 and 12; IV, 21; "Recogs.. IV, 26. V, 20 and 31. ' "Reminding one of Benjamin 'Recogs., II, 71; IV, 16. Franklin's more successful at- * Recogs., IV, 30. tempt to "snatch the thunderbolt '^Recogs., IX, 9. from heaven." * Recogs., IV, 32-33. I nagic. XVII THE RECOGNITIONS AND SIMON MAGUS 415 whom he had accosted with too great importunity." ^ But on this account he was called Zoroaster or "living star" after his death. Moreover, the magic art did not perish but was transmitted to Nimrod "as by a flash." ^ With this may be compared the slightly different account of the origin of magic given by Epiphanius in the Panarion, written about 374-375 A. D. Magic is older than heresy and was already in existence before the time of Ham or Mesraim in the antediluvian days of Jared, when it coexisted with "phar- macy," a term here used to cover sorcery and poisoning-, licentiousness, adultery, and injustice. After the flood Epiphanius mentions Nimrod (NejSpcbS) as the first tyrant and the inventor of the evil disciplines of astrology and magic. He states that the Greeks incorrectly confuse him with Zoroaster whom they regard as the founder of magic and astrology. According to Epiphanius, "pharmacy" and magic passed from Egypt to Greece in the time of Cecrops.^ In The Recognitions everyone. Christian, heretic, pagan. Frequent and philosopher, condemns or professes to condemn magic, accusa- and reference is made to the laws of the Roman emperors magic, against it.* But Christians, pagans, and heretics, while claiming divine power and protection for themselves, freely accuse one another of the practice of magic. An unnamed person, by whom Paul is perhaps meant, stirs up the people of Jerusalem to persecute the apostolic community there as "most miserable men, who are deceived by Simon, a magician." ^ The guards at the sepulcher, unable to pre- vent the resurrection, said that Jesus was a magician, a charge which is repeated by one of the scribes and by Simon Magus. Simon also calls Peter a magician on more than one occasion.® Peter, of course, makes similar charges against Simon; he had been especially sent by James to Caesarea in order to refute this magician who was giving himself out to be the Stans or Christ.'^ The gods of Greek ^Recogs., IV, 2y, and I, 30. *Recogs., IV, 29. •Dindorf, I, 282, 286-7. *Recogs., X. 55; III, 64. ' Rccogs., I, 70. 'Recogs., I, 42 and 58; III, 12, 47, and 73 ; X, 54. ' Recogs., I, 72. 4i6 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. mythology, too, are accused of having resorted to magic transformations and sorcery,^ Philosophy, however, es- capes the accusation of magic in The Recognitions,^ and it was a philosopher who deterred Clement, before the latter liad become a Christian, from his plan of investigating the problem of the immortality of the soul by hiring an Egyp- tian magician to evoke a soul from the infernal regions by the art of necromancy.^ The philosopher condemned such an attempt as unlawful, impious, and "hateful to the Divinity." * Marvels But while magic is condemned, its great powers are ad- of magic, mitted. Simon Magus makes great boasts of the marvels which he can perform. These include becoming invisible, boring through rocks and mountains as if they were clay, passing through fire without being burned, flying through the air, loosing bonds and barriers, transformation into ani- mal shapes, animation of statues, production of new plants or trees in a moment, and growing beards upon little boys.^ He also asserted that he had formed a boy by turning air into water and the water into blood, and then solidifying this into flesh, a feat which he regarded as superior to the creation of Adam from earth. Later Simon unmade him and restored him to the air, "but not until I had placed his image and picture in my bedchamber as a proof and me- morial of my work.^ Not only does Simon himself make such boasts ; Niceta and Aquila, who had been his disciples before their conversion by Zaccheus, also bear witness to ^ Recogs., X, 22 and 25. sias. ' But by no means always in Necromancy is given as a proof early Christian writings : thus of the immortality of the soul in Clement of Alexandria (ciso- Justin's First Apology, cap. 18, C220) in the Stromata, II, i, as- where we read, "For let even serts that the Greeks eulogize necromancy, and the divinations "astrology and mathematics and you practise by means of immacu- magic and sorcery" as the highest late children, and the evoking of sciences. departed human souls ... let * In contrast to Lucian's Menip- these persuade you that even after pus or Necromancy, in which the death souls are in a state of sen- Cynic philosopher Menippus re- sation." sorts to a Magus at Babylon in * Recogs., I, 5. order to gain entrance to the ^Recogs., II, 9. lower world and question Teire- ° Recogs., II, 15. XVII THE RECOGNITIONS AND SIMON MAGUS 417 his amazing feats. "Who would not be astonished at the wonderful things which he does? Who would not think that he was a god come down from heaven for the salvation of men?" ^ He can fly through the air, or so mingle him- self with fire as to become one body with it, he can make statues walk and dogs of brass bark. "Yea, he has also been seen to make bread of stones," ^ When Dositheus tried to beat Simon, the rod passed through his body as if it had been smoke.^ The woman called Luna who goes about with Simon was seen by a crowd to look out of all the windows of a tower at the same time,"* an illusion possibly produced by mirrors. When Simon fears arrest, he transforms the face of Faustinianus into the likeness of his own, in order that Faustinianus may be arrested in his place. ^ So great, indeed, are the marvels wrought by Simon How dis- and by magicians generally that Niceta asks Peter how they rniracie may be distinguished from divine signs and Christian ^'"o"? ., . . . magic ? miracles, and in what respect anyone sins who infers from the similarity of these signs and wonders either that Simon Magus is divine or that Christ was a magician. Speaking first of Pharaoh's magicians, Niceta asks, "For if I had been there, should I not have thought, from the fact that the magicians did like things (to those which Moses did), either that Moses was a magician, or that the feats dis- played by the magicians were divinely wrought? . . . But if he sins who believes those who work signs, how shall it appear that he also does not sin who has believed on our Lord for His signs and occult virtues?" Peter's reply is that Simon's magic does not benefit anyone, while the Chris- tian miracles of healing the sick and expelling demons are performed for the good of humanity. To Antichrist alone among workers of magic will it be permitted at the end of the world to mix in some beneficial acts with his evil marvels. Moreover, "by this means going beyond his bounds, and ^ Recogs., II, 6. * Recogs., II, 12. '^ Recogs., Ill, 57, "Recogs., X, 53, et seq. ^Recogs., II, 11. 4i8 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. being divided against himself, and fighting against himself, he shall be destroyed." ^ Later in The Recognitions, how- ever, Aquila states that even the magic of the present has found ways of imitating by contraries the expulsion of demons by the word of God, that it can counteract the poisons of serpents by incantations, and can effect cures "contrary to the word and power of God." He adds, "The magic art has also discovered ministries contrary to the angels of God, placing the evocation of souls and the fig- ments of demons in opposition to these." - Deceit in But while the marvels of magic are admitted, there is a magic. feeling that there is something deceitful and unreal about them. The teachings of the true prophet, we are told, "con- tain nothing subtle, nothing composed by magic art to de- ceive," ^ while Simon is "a deceiver and magician." "* Nor is he deceitful merely in his religious teaching and his op- position to Peter; even his boasts of magic power are partly false. Aquila, his former disciple, says, "But when he spoke thus of the production of sprouts and the perforation of the mountain, I was confounded on this account, because he wished to deceive even us, in whom he seemed to place con- fidence; for we knew that those things had been from the days of our fathers, which he represented as having been done by himself lately." ^ Moreover, not only does Simon deceive others; he is himself deceived by demons as Peter twice asserts : ^ "He is deluded by demons, yet he thinks that he sees the very substance of the soul." "Although in this he is deluded by demons, yet he has persuaded himself that he has the soul of a murdered boy ministering to him in whatever he pleases to employ it." This story of having sacrificed a pure boy for purposes of magic or divination was a stock charge, which we have previously heard made against Apollonius of Tyana and which was also told of the early Christians by their ^Recogs., Ill, 57-60; X, 66. *Recogs., II, 5. 'Recogs., VIII, 53. ' Recogs., II, 10. 'Recogs., VIII, 60. 'Recogs., II, 16, and III, 49. XVII THE RECOGNITIONS AND SIMON MAGUS 419 pagan enemies and of the Jews and heretics in the middle ages. Simon is said to have confessed to Niceta and Aquila, when they asked how he worked his magic, that he received assistance from "the soul of a boy, unsullied and violently slain, and invoked by unutterable adjurations." He went on to explain that "the soul of man holds the next place after God, when once it is set free from the darkness of the body. And immediately it acquires prescience, wherefore it is in- voked in necromancy." When Aquila asked why the soul did not take vengeance upon its slayer instead of perform- ing the behests of magicians, Simon answered that the soul now had the last judgment too vividly before it to indulge in vengeance, and that the angels presiding over -such souls do not permit them to return to earth unless "adjured by someone greater than themselves." ^ Niceta then indig- nantly interposed, "And do you not fear the day of judg- ment, who do violence to angels and invoke souls?" As a matter of fact, the charge that Simon had murdered or vio- lently slain a boy is rather overdrawn, since the boy in ques- tion was the one whom he had made from air in the first place and whom he simply turned back into air again, claim- ing, however, to have thereby produced an unsullied human soul. According to The HonCilies, however, he presently confided to Niceta and Aquila that the human soul did not survive the death of the body and that a demon really responded to his invocations.^ Nevertheless, the charge of murder thus made against Magic is Simon illustrates the criminal character here as usually as- ^^*'- scribed to magic. Simon is said to be "wicked above meas- ure," and to depend upon "magic arts and wicked devices," and Peter accuses him of "acting by nefarious arts." ^ ^ Similarly, in a passage con- names of superior angels, who in tained only in The Homilies, V, their turn may be adjured by the 5, Appion, recommending to Clem- name of God. ent a love incantation which he * Concerning this boy see had learned from an Egyptian Recogs., II, 13-15; III, 44-45; who was well versed in magic, Homilies, II, 25-30. explains that demons obey the ^Recogs., II, 6; III, 13. magician when invoked by the 420 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Simon in his turn calls Peter "a magician, a godless man, injurious, cunning, ignorant, and professing impossibili- ties," and again "a magician, a sorcerer, a murderer." ^ Magic is A further characteristic of magic which comes out an art. clearly in The Recognitions is that it is an art. Demons and souls of the dead may have a great deal to do with it, but it also requires a human operator and makes use of materials drawn from the world of nature. It was by anointing his face with an ointment which the magician had compounded that the countenance of Faustinianus was transformed into the likeness of Simon, while Appion and Anubion, who anointed their faces with the juice of a cer- tain herb, were thereby enabled still to recognize Faus- tinianus as himself.^ In another passage one of Simon's disciples who has deserted him and come to Peter tells how Simon had made him carry on his back to the seashore a bundle "of his polluted and accursed secret things." Simon took the bundle out to sea in a boat and later returned without it.^ Simon not only employed natural materials in his magic, but was regarded as a learned man, even by his enemies. He is "by profession a magician, yet exceed- ingly well trained in Greek literature." * He is "a most vehement orator, trained in the dialectic art, and in the meshes of syllogisms ; and what is most serious of all, he is greatly skilled in the magic art." ^ And he engages with Peter in theological debates. It is also interesting to note as an illustration of the connection between magic and experimental science that Simon, in boasting of his feats of magic, says, "For already I have achieved many things by way of experiment." ^ In the Pseudo-Clementines we are told that Simon in- tended to go to Rome, but The Recognitions and The Homilies deal only with the conflicts between Peter and Simon in various Syrian cities and do not follow them to * Recogs., Ill, 73 J X, 54. " Recogs., II, 5. 'Recpgs., X, 58. _ "Recogs., II, 9, "Multa etenim 'Recogs., Ill, 63. iam mihi experimenti causa con- * Recogs., II, 7. summata sunt." xvii THE RECOGNITIONS AND SIMON MAGUS 421 Rome, where, as other Christian writers tell us, they had yet Other other encounters in which Simon finally came to his bitter of Simon end. Justin Martyr, writing about the middle of the second ^^sus: century, states that Simon, a Samaritan of Gitto, came to Martyr to Rome in the reign of Claudius and performed such feats of tus_ magic by demon aid that a statue was erected to him as a god. In this matter of the statue Justin is thought to have con- fused Semo Sancus, a Sabine deity, with Simon. Justin adds that almost all Samaritans and a few persons from other nations still believe in Simon as the first God, and that a disciple of his, named Menander, deceived many by magic at Antioch. Justin complains that the followers of these men are still called Christians and on the other hand that the em- perors do not persecute them as they do other Christians, al- though Justin charges them with practicing promiscuous sexual intercourse as well as magic. ^ Irenaeus gives a very similar account.^ Origen, as we have seen, denied that there were more than thirty of Simon's followers left,^ but his con- temporary Tertullian wrote, "At this very time even the heretical dupes of this same Simon are so much elated by the extravagant pretensions of their art, that they under- take to bring up from Hades the souls of the prophets them- selves. And I suppose that they can do so under cover of a lying wonder." ^ But Origen and Tertullian add nothing to the story of Simon Magus himself. Hippolytus, too, implies that Simon still has followers, since he devotes a number of chapters to stating and refuting Simon's doc- trines and to "teaching anew the parrots of Simon that Christ . . . was not Simon." ® But Hippolytus also gives further details concerning Simon's visit to Rome, stating that he there encountered the apostles and was repeatedly opposed by Peter, until finally Simon declared that if he were buried alive he would rise again upon the third day. '^ First Apology, caps. 26 and * Tertullian, De anima, cap. 57, 56; Dialogue ii-ith Trypho, 120. in PL, II, 794; De idolatria, cap. 'Adv. itaer., I, 23. 9- 'See above, chapter 15, p. 365. ^ Philosophumena, VI, 2-15. 422 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Peter's account in the Didascalia et Cousti- tntioncs Aposto- lorum. His disciples buried him, as they were directed, but he never reappeared, "for he was not the Christ." Peter himself is represented as briefly recounting his struggle at Rome with Simon Magus in the Didascalia Apostolorum, an apocryphal work of probably the third century, extant in Syriac and Latin, and more fully in the parallel passage of the Greek Constitutioncs Apostolo- rum, written perhaps about 400 A. D.^ Peter found Simon at Rome drawing many away from the church as well as seducing the Gentiles by his "magic operation and virtues," or, in the Greek version, "magic experiments and the working of demons." ^ In the Syriac and Latin ac- count Peter then states that one day he saw Simon flying through the air. "And standing beneath I said, 'In the virtue of the holy name, Jesus, I cut off your virtues.' And so falling he broke the arch (thigh?) of his foot (leg?)." ^ But he did not die, since Peter goes on to say that while "many then departed from him, others who were worthy of him remained with him." In the longer Greek version Simon announced his flight in the theater. While all eyes were turned on Simon, Peter prayed against him. Mean- while Simon mounted aloft into mid-air, borne up, Peter says, by demons, and telling the people that he was ascending to heaven, whence he would return bringing them good tid- ings. The people applauded him as a god, but Peter stretched forth his hands to heaven, supplicating God through the Lord Jesus to dash down the corrupter and curtail the power of the demons. He asked further, however, that Simon might not be killed by his fall but merely bruised. Peter also addressed Simon and the evil powers who were supporting him, requiring that he might fall and become a laughing-stock to those who had been deceived by him. Thereupon Simon fell with a great commotion and bruised * F. X. Funk, Didascalia ct Con- *". . . in una die procedens vidi stitutiones Apostolorum, 1905, I, ilium per aera volantem et_ fere- 320-1. batur. Et subsistcns dixi : In ' TO. hi Wv7) f^i(TT03v /xa7" 'ETriKo'jpeiov. 442 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. "had been acquainted with the nature of demons" and their operations in the magic arts, he would not have blamed Christians for not worshiping them.^ The natural infer- ence from this statement is that Celsus did not associate demons with magic. Origen, however, depicts him as **speaking of those who employ the arts of magic and sorcery and who invoke the barbarous names of demons," ^ and we liave already heard him censure certain Christian presbyters for their ''barbarous books containing the names and marvelous doings of demons." ^ It therefore becomes evident that magicians attempt to avail themselves of the aid of demons, whether Celsus believes that they succeed in their attempt or not. Origen Origen at any rate believes that magicians are aided magic to by evil spirits, and for him demons became the paramount demons. factor in magic, just as it is they who are v/orshiped in pagan temples as gods and who inspire the pagan oracles.* Indeed, just as Celsus has kept calling the Christians sor- cerers, so Origen is inclined to label all heathen religions, rites, and ceremonies as magic. He quotes the Psalmist as saying that "all the gods of the heathen are demons." ^ He states that the dedication of pagan temples, statues, and the like are accompanied by "curious magical incantations . . . performed by those who zealously serve the demons with magic arts." ^ Divination in general, he believes, "proceeds rather from wicked demons than from anything of a better nature." '^ He does not think of magic as a deception, he does not endeavor to expose its frauds, he accepts its mar- vels as facts, but declares that "magic and sorcery are pro- duced by wicked spirits, held spellbound by elaborate incantations and yielding themselves to sorcerers." ^ Origen seems in doubt whether the demons are coerced by the spells and charms of magic or yield themselves willingly.® * VII, 67. 'V, 42. »VI, 39. 'II. 51. See also V, 38; VI, 45; 'VI, 40. VII, 69; VIII, 59; I, 60. *VII, 3 and 35. 'See VII, 67, "demons . . . " Ps. xcvi, 5. and their several operations, •VII, 69. whether led on to them by the XIX ORIGEN AND CELSUS 443 As we shall see, Origen is at least ready to attribute Magic great power to incantations, and he does not deny that elaborate magic is an elaborate art. With such various arts of magic ^'■*- he contrasts the simplicity of Christian prayers and adjura- tions "which the plainest person can use," or the Christian casting out of demons which is performed for the most part by "unlettered persons." ^ Origen also suggests that the natural properties of plants and animals are a factor in magic, when he cites Numenius the Pythagorean's descrip- tion of the Egyptian deity Serapis. "He partakes of the essence of all the animals and plants that are under the control of nature, that he may appear to have been fashioned into a god, not only by the image-makers with the aid of profane mysteries and juggling tricks employed to invoke demons, but also by magicians and sorcerers ( nayoiv Kal (papixaKoiv) and those demons who are bewitched b}' their incantations." ^ Another passage pointing in the same di- rection is Origen's description of "the man who is curiously inquisitive about the names of demons, their powers and agency, the incantations, the herbs proper to them, and the stones with the inscriptions graven on them, corresponding symbolically or otherwise to their traditional shapes." ^ Thus although Origen lays the emphasis upon demons, we see that he admits most of the other customary elements in magic. Origen does not, like Philo Judaeus, Apuleius and some The Magi Christian writers, distinguish two uses of the word magic, °ure were one good and one evil. He does not differentiate between not differ- vulgar magic and malignant sorcery on the one hand and other the lore of learned Magi of the east on the other hand. He magicians. conjurations of those who are choose certain forms and places, skilled in the art, or urged on by whether because they are detained their own inclinations. . . ." there by virtue of certain charms, Also VII, 5, "those spirits that or because for some other pos- are attached for entire ages, as 1 sible reason they have selected may say, to particular dwellings those haunts. . . ." and places, whether by a sort of ^VII, 4. 0:$ tiriirav yip idiuraird magical force or by their own toiovtov TrparTovtri,. natural inclinations." ''V, 38. Also VII, 64, ". . . the demons " VIII. 61. 444 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. simply says that the art of magic gets its name from the Magi and that from them its evil influence has been trans- mitted to other nations.^ Celsus had ranked the Magi among divinely inspired nations but Origen objects to this. Yet he recognizes that the wise men of the east who fol- lowed the star of Bethlehem and came to worship the infant Christ were Magi.^ But he seems to regard them as ordi- nary magicians, who were accustomed to invoke evil spirits.^ He thinks that the coming of Christ dispelled the demons and hindered the Magi's spells and charms from working as usual. Trying to find the reason for this, they would note the new star in the sky. Origen will not adrnit that they could do all this by means of astrology, nor even that they were astrologers at all; he accuses Celsus of blundering in calling them Chaldeans or astrologers.* Rather he thinks that they could find an explanation of the star in the prophecies of Balaam ^ which they possessed and which predicted, as Moses too records,^ "There shall arise a star out of Jacob, and a man (or, as in the King James' version, a scepter) shall rise up out of Israel." ^ In another treatise than the Reply to Celsus Origen further explains that the Magi were descended from Balaam and so owned his written prophecies.^ Balaam was perhaps alluding to these very Magi descended from him who came to adore Jesus when he prophesied that his seed should *VI, 80. wiss den sieben Planetfiirsten ge- ^I, 58. widmet." 'I, 60. " Numbers, XXIV, 17. * I, 58. The Magi had been '' Similarly an English version confused with the Chaldeans sev- (in an Oxford MS of the early eral centuries before by Ctesias 15th century, Laud Misc., 658) of in his Persica. cap. 15; see D. F. The History of the Three Kings Miinter, Der Stern der Weisen: of Cologne, or medieval account Untersuchungen i'tber das Ge- of the translation of the relics of hurts jahr Christi, Kopenhagen the Magi, in forty-one chapters (1827), p. 14. with a preface, opens its first * Balaam himself was something chapter with the words, "The of an astrolo.crer according to mater of these three worshipful Miinter, Der Stern der Weisen, and blissid kingis token the be- 1827, p. 31. "Die sieben Altare gynnyng of the prophecye of die der moabitische Seher Bileam Balaam." an verschiedenen Orten errichtete ^ In Numeros Homilia XIII, in (IV B. Mose, XXIII) waren ge- Migne, PG, XII, 675. XIX O RIG EN AND C ELS US 445 be as the seed of the just.^ Origen seems to have been the first of the church fathers to state the number of these Magi as three, which he does in one of his homihes on the Book of Genesis.- At this point indeed, we may well turn for a little while g-uP"!* from the Reply to Celsus to those Biblical commentaries of commen- Origen where he discusses such Old Testament passages connected with magic as the stories of Balaam and of the witch of Endor or ventriloquist. The commentary of Origen upon the Book of Numbers is extant only in the Latin trans- lation by Rufinus, who literally snatched it for posterity as a brand from the burning, for he did not refrain from this learned and literary labor, although as he plied his pen in ]Messina in 410 A. D. he could see the invading barbarians ravaging the fields and burning Reggio just across the nar- row strait which separates Sicily from Italy.^ In commencing to speak of Balaam and his ass * Origen ^^j^^J" implies that much has already been written on this thorny power of theme and that he approaches it with considerable diffidence. He prays God again and again for grace to be able to explain it, not by means of fabulous Jewish narrations — ■ by which expression he perhaps alludes to commentaries of the rabbis such as have reached us in the Talmud — but in a sense that shall be reasonable and worthy of the divine law. To begin with he admits the power of words, and not merely that of holy words or words of God, but of certain words used by men. That such words are in some respects more powerful than bodies is shown by the fact that Balaam's cursing could accomplish what armies and weapons could not effect. This calls to mind one of the Mohammedan tales concerning Balaam to the effect that by reading the books of Abraham he learned "the name ^ In Numeros Hoinilia XV, col. * Origenis in Numeros Homilia 689. XIII, Migne, PG, XII, 670-677. * In Genesim Homilia XIV, 3, In at least one medieval manu- in PG, XII, 238. script we find the homily upon ^Origenis in Numeros Hoiiii- Balaam preserved separately, BN liae, Prologus RiiUni Interpret is ad 13350, 12th century, fol. 92V, et Ursacium. Migne, PG, XII, 583-86. omeliae de Balaham et Balach. words. 446 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Limita- tions to the power of Pha- raoh's ma- gicians. Was Balaam a prophet of God or a magician ? Yahweh by virtue of which he predicted the future, and got from God whatever he wished." ^ The magicians of Egypt, too, who withstood Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh, were able to turn rods into snakes and water into blood, feats which no man could accomplish by mere bodily strength. Indeed, because the king of Egypt knew that his magicians could do such things by a human art of words, he thought, at first at least, that Moses too was doing the same things not by the help of God but by the magic art. There was, however, a very serious limita- tion to the magicians' power. By the aid of demons they could turn good into evil but they could not repair the dam- age which they had done or restore the evil to good. The rod of Moses, on the other hand, not only devoured theirs but turned back from a snake into its original form,^ and it was necessary for Moses to pray to God in order to stay the other plagues. Origen classifies Balaam as a magician, not as a prophet. This seems'to have been the prevalent patristic and medieval view, although the Biblical account in Numbers represents Balaam as in close and constant communication with God and the Second Epistle of Peter ^ calls him a prophet al- though it condemns his temporary madness in seeking "the wages of unrighteousness." Josephus too calls him the best prophet of his time but one who yielded to temptation.* A fifteenth century treatise on the translation of the relics of the three kings to Cologne tells us that "concerning this Balaam there is an altercation in the east between the Christians and the Jews" ; the Jews holding that he was no prophet but a diviner who predicted by magic and diabolical arts, the Christians asserting that he was the first prophet of the Gentiles.^ The problem continued to *W. H. Bennett, Balaam, in EB, nth edition. * One cannot help wondering whether Pharaoh's magicians lost their rods for good as a result of this manoeuvre, but it is a point upon which the Scriptural narrative fails to enlighten us. "11, 1S-16. *Antiq., IV, 6. " Johannis Hildeshemensis, Liber de trium regum translatione, 1478, cap. 2. XIX OKI GEN AND C ELS US 447 exercise the ingenuity of Lutherans and theologians of the Reformed Churches, and in 1842 was the main theme of a treatise of 290 pages in which Hebrew words and quota- tions from Calvin abound,^ Origen remarks that magicians differ in the amount of power they possess. Balaam was a very famous and ex- pert -one, known throughout the whole orient. He had given many experimental proofs {experimenta) of his skill and Balak had frequently employed him. The translator Rufinus's repeated use of the words experimenta and ex~ pertus here is an interesting indication of the close connec- tion between magic and experiment.^ Great, however, as was Balaam's fame and power, he could only curse and not bless, an indication that he oper- ated by the agency of demons who also only work evil and not good. It is true that King Balak said to him: *'I know that whom you bless will be blessed," but Origen regards this as false flattery. Magicians employ the serv- ices of evil spirits, but cannot invoke such angels as Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel, much less God or Christ. Christians alone have the power to do this, and they must cease entirely from the invocation of demons or the Holy Spirit will flee from them. It is true also that God in the end did speak through the mouth of Balaam and that he blessed instead of cursed Israel. Origen will not admit, however, that Balaam was worthy of this, or that a man can be both a magician and a prophet; if God spake through Balaam, it was only to prevent the demons from coming and helping Balaam to curse Israel. Origen also attempts to solve the difficulties Balaam's magic ex- periments. Limitation to his magic power. Divine prophecy distinct from magic and divination. * E. W. Hengstenberg, Die Ge- schichte Bileains und seine JVeis- sagungen, Berlin, 1842. Hengsten- berg tried to take middle ground between Philo Judaeus, Ambrose, Augustine, Gregory of Nyssa, Theodoret, and others who re- garded Balaam as a godless false prophet and magician, and the contrary opinion of TertuUian, Jerome, and some moderns who hold that Balaam was originally a devout man and true prophet who fell through his covetousness. ' "Et ideo quasi expertus in tali- bus in opinione erat omnibus qui erant in Oriente . . . Certus ergo Balach de hoc et frequenter ex- pertus." 448 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. The ven- triloquist really invoked Samuel for Saul. Christians less af- fected by magic than phi- losophers are. and inconsistencies involved in the repeated appearances and conflicting commands of God and the angel to Balaam. Finally we may note that Origen sees the similarity be- tween the use of cauldron-shaped tripods in human arts of divination and the donning of the ephod by the prophets described in the Old Testament.^ But he affirms that divine prophecy and divination are two different things and cites the Biblical prohibition of the latter. In his commentary upon the First Book of Samuel,^ Origen takes the ground that when Saul consulted the witch or ventriloquist (kyyaaTpinvdos) , Samuel's ghost really appeared and spoke to Saul, for the Scriptural account plainly says that the woman saw Samuel ^ and that Samuel spoke to Saul. Consequently Origen cannot agree with those who have held that the woman deceived Saul or that both she and he were deluded by a demon who assumed the guise of Samuel. No demon, he thinks, could have prophesied that the kingdom would pass to David. It has been objected that the enchantress could not raise the spirit of Samuel from the infernal regions because he was a good man, but Origen holds that even Christ descended to hell and that all before Him had their abode there until He came to release them. From this position not even the parable of Dives and of Lazarus in Abraham's bosom with the great gulf fixed between them can shake Origen. Origen disputes the statement of Celsus that philo- sophers are not affected by the magic arts by pointing out that in Moiragenes's Life of Apolloniiis of Tyana, who was himself both a philosopher and magician, it is affirmed that other philosophers were won over by his magic power "and resorted to him as a sorcerer." * On the other hand Origen makes the counter-assertion that the followers of Christ "who live according to His gospel, using night and day con- ^In Homily XIV. "Migne, PG, XII, 1011-28. 'J. G. Frazer (1918), II, 522, note, however, says of I. Samuel, XXVIII, 12: "It seems that we must read, 'And when the woman saw Saul,' with six manuscripts of the Septuagint and some mod- ern critics, instead of, 'And when the woman saw Samuel.' " *VI, 41- XIX 0 RIG EN AND CELSUS 449 tions. tinuously and becomingly the prescribed prayers, are not carried away either by magic or demons." If these "prescribed prayers" were set forms of words, Their super- they would seem not far removed in character from the m- stitious cantations of the magicians which they were supposed to ^^^^j^°^^ counteract. An even clearer example of preventive magic is magic. seen in Origen's explanation that the practice of circum- cision was a safeguard against some angel {s!ic) hostile to the Jewish race.^ If demons are for Origen of primary importance in Incanta- magic, incantations run a close second, since it is chiefly through them that men are able to utilize the power of the demons. Some of the barbarians, Origen tells us, "are admired for their marvelous powers of incantation." ^ And when he mentions the miraculous releases of Peter and Paul and Silas from prison, he adds that if Celsus had read of these events he "would probably say in reply that there are certain sorcerers who are able by incantations to unloose chains and to open doors." ^ But Celsus did not say this; we must therefore attribute the thought rather to Origen himself. Speaking elsewhere in his own person Origen more than once informs us that "almost all those who occupy themselves with incantations and magical rites" and "many who conjure evil spirits" employ in their spells and incan- tations such expressions as "God of Abraham." * Origen grants that these phrases are used by the Jews themselves in their prayers to God and exorcisms, and that the names of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob possess great efficacy "when united with the word of God." ^ Yet he will not acknowl- edge that the Jews practice magic. He also denies the charge of Celsus that Christians use incantations and the names of ' V, 48. ' I, 30. "11, 34. *IV, 33, and I, 22. "IV, 33. On the use of mystic names of God among the Jews of this period and "the new and greatly developed angelology that flourished at that time in Egypt and Palestine" see the Introduc- tion to M. Caster's edition of The Szvord of Moses, 1896, — a book of magic found in a I3-I4th cen- tury Hebrew MS, but which is mentioned in the nth century and which he would trace back to ancient times. 450 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. certain demons, although he admits that Christians ward off magic by regular use of prescribed prayers and frequently expel demons by repetition of "the simple name of Jesus, and certain other words in which they repose faith, accord- ing to the holy Scriptures," or "the name of Jesus accom- panied by the announcement of the narratives which relate to Him" (presumably a repetition of the names of the four Evangelists).^ It is even possible for persons who are not true Christians to make use of the name of Jesus to work wonders just as magicians use the Hebrew names.^ The power Origen, however, does not try to justify these Hebrew o wor s, ^^^ Christian formulae, adjurations, and exorcisms on the ground that they are simply prayers to God, who Himself then performs the cure or miracle without compulsion. Origen believes that there is power in the words themselves, as we have already heard him state in speaking of Balaam. This is seen from the fact that when translated into an- other language they lose their operative force, as those who are skilled in the use of incantations have noted. ^ Thus not what is signified by the words, but the qualities and peculi- arities of the words themselves, are potent for this or that effect. It seems strange that Origen should thus cite en- chanters, when in the sentence just preceding he had spoken of "our Jesus, whose name has been manifestly seen to have driven out demons from souls and bodies. . . ." Was the divine name alone and not God the cause of the miracle ? It may be added, however, that Origen denied that languages were of human origin.^ But he has already gone far along this line and in the previous chapter has stated that "the nature of powerful names" is a "deep and mysterious sub- ject." ^ Some such names, he goes on to say, "are used by the learned amongst the Egyptians, or by the Magi among the Persians, and by the Indian philosophers called Brah- mans." * I, 6. It also, however, suggests ' II, 49. the efficacy ascribed by the Man- * I, 25 ; V, 45. daeans to the repetition of pas- *V, 45. sages from their sacred books. * I, 24, XIX O RIG EN AND C ELS US 451 Later on in the work, in a passage which we have already cited, Origen waxed indignant with Celsus for speaking favorably of the Magi, inventors of the destructive magic art. But now he speaks almost in a tone of respect of magic, stating that if "the so-called magic also is not, as followers of Epicurus" (i. e., men like Celsus whom Origen accuses of being an Epicurean) "and Aristotle think, an en- tirely chaotic affair but, as those skilled in such matters show, a connected system comprising words known to very few persons," then such names as Adonai and Sabaoth "pertain to some mystic theology," and, "when pronounced with that attendant train of circumstances which is appro- priate to their nature, are possessed of great power." These last clauses make it clear that Jews and Chris- tians were guilty both of incantations and magic, however much Origen may protest to the contrary. It can hardly be argued that Origen means to distinguish this "so-called magic" from the magic art which he condemns in other passages, for not only is it evident that the followers of Epi- curus and Aristotle make no such distinction, but Origen himself in other passages ascribes the employment of such Hebrew names to ordinary magicians and declares that such invocations of God are "found in treatises on magic in many countries." ^ Origen also states in his Commentary upon Matthew ^ that the Jews are regarded as adepts in adjura- tion of demons and that they employ adjurations in the He- brew language drawn from the books of Solomon. More- over, he continues in the present passage, "And other names, again, current in the Egyptian tongue, are efficacious against certain demons who can only do certain things; and others in the Persian language have corresponding power over other spirits ; and so on in every different nation, for differ- ent purposes." ". . . And when one is able to philosophize about the mystery of names, he will find much to say re- specting the titles of the angels of God, of whom one is Origen admits a connection between the power of words and magic. Jewish and Chris- tian em- ployment of power- ful names is really magic. *IV, 33; I, 22, etc. 'In Math. XXVI, 23 (Migne. PG, XIII, 1757). 452 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. called Michael, and another Gabriel, and another Raphael, appropriately to the duties which they discharge in the world. And a similar philosophy of names applies also to our Jesus." Between such mystic theology and philosophy of names, the Gnostic diagram of the Ophites,^ and the downright incan- tations of the magicians, there is surely little to choose. Celsus' From the names of God and angels, by uttering which demons^ ^^^^^ wonders may be performed, we turn to the spirits themselves. Celsus seems to think of demons as spiritual beings who act as intermediaries between the supreme Deity and the world of nature and human society. He believes that "in all probability the various quarters of the earth were from the beginning allotted to different superintend- ing spirits." ^ He warns the Christians that it is absurd for them to think that they can escape the demons by simply refusing to eat the meat that has been offered to idols; the demons are everywhere in nature, and one cannot eat bread or drink wine or taste fruit or breathe the very air withput receiving these gifts of nature from the demons to whom the various provinces of nature have been assigned.^ The Egyptians teach that even the most insignificant objects are committed to demon care, and they divide the human body into thirty-six parts, each in charge of a demon of the air who should be invoked in order to cure an ailment of that particular part.^ Celsus mentions some of the names of these thirty-six demons : Chnoumen, Chnachoumen, Cnat, Sicat, Biou, Erou, and others. Celsus, however, does not accept this Egyptian doctrine without qualification. He sus- pects, Origen tells us, that it leads toward magic, and hence adds "the opinion of those wise men who say that most of the earth-demons are taken up with carnal indulgence, blood, odors, sweet sounds and other such sensual things; and therefore they are unable to do more than heal the body, or foretell the fortunes of men and cities, and do other such *See p. 366 in Chapter XV on *VIII. 28. Gnosticism. 'VIII, 58. *V, 25. XIX 0 RIG EN AND C ELS US 453 things as relate to this mortal life." ^ Celsus himself, how- ever, seems as unwilling to accept this Egyptian view as he is to condone magic, and concludes that "the more just opinion is that the demons desire nothing and need nothing, but that they take pleasure in those who discharge toward them of- fices of piety." ^ Celsus believes that divine providence reg- ulates the acts of the demons and so asks : "Why are we not to serve demons?" ^ Origen's reply to this question is that the demons are wicked spirits and concerned with magic and idolatry. He maintains that not only Christians "but almost all who acknowledge the existence of demons" regard them as evil spirits.^ His own attitude toward them is invariably one of hostility. The thirty-six spirits who, as the Egyptians believe, have charge of different parts of the human body, Origen spurns as "thirty-six barbarous demons whom the Egyptian Magi alone call upon in some unknown way." ^ Really we probably have here to do with the astrological decans or sub-divisions of the signs of the zodiac into sec- tions of ten degrees each. Yet Origen's notion of the spiritual world rather closely resembles that of Celsus, for he is ready to ascribe to angels or other good invisible beings much the same functions which Celsus attributed to demons. He does not, for ex- ample, dispute the theory that different parts of the earth and of nature are assigned to different spirits. Instead he "ventures to lay down some considerations of a profounder kind, conveying a mystical and secret view respecting the original distribution of the various quarters of the earth among different superintending spirits." ® He quotes the Septuagint version of Deuteronomy, "When the most High divided the nations. . . . He set the bounds of the people ac- cording to the number of the angels of God." '^ He nar- rates how after Babel, men "were conducted by those angels ^VIII, 60. ' VIII, 63. "VII, 68. "VIII, 59. 'V, 28. ' V, 29; see Deut. xxxii, 8. Origen calls demons wicked. But be- lieves in presiding angels. 454 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. who imprinted on each his native language to the different parts of the earth according to their deserts." ^ He con- cludes by saying, "These remarks are to be understood as being made by us with a concealed meaning," ^ but there seems little doubt as to his substantial agreement with the view of Celsus. Indeed, later when Celsus asserts that Christians cannot eat, drink, or breathe without being in- debted to demons, Origen responds, "We indeed also main- tain . . . the agency and control of certain beings whom we may call invisible husbandmen and guardians; . . . but we deny that those invisible agents are demons." ^ In his fourteenth homily on Numbers, as extant in Ru- finus's translation,* Origen again speaks of presiding angels in these words. "And what is so pleasant, what is so mag- nificent as the work of the sun or moon by whom the world is illuminated? Yet there is work in the world itself too for angels who are over beasts and for angels who preside over earthly armies. There is work for angels who preside over the nativity of animals, of seedlings, of plantations, and many other growths. And again there is work for angels who preside over holy works, who teach the comprehension of eternal light and the knowledge of God's secrets and the science of divine things." How this passage might be used to encourage a belief in magic is made evident by the para- phrase of it in The Occult Philosophy of Henry Cornelius Agrippa,^ written in 1510 at the close of the middle ages. He represents Origen as saying, "There is work in the world itself for angels who preside over earthly armies, king- doms, provinces, men, beasts, the nativity and growth of animals, shoots, plants, and other things, giving that virtue which they say is in things from their occult property." In the treatise De Principiis,^ Origen states that particu- lar offices are assigned to individual angels, as curing dis- eases to Raphael, and the conduct of wars to Gabriel. This notion he perhaps derived from the Book of Enoch which, ' V, 30. ' Migne, PG, XII, 680. *V, Z2. "HI, 12. •VIII, 31. '1.8- XIX OKI GEN AND CELSUS 455 however, he states in his Reply to Celsus is not accepted by the churches as divinely inspired.^ He further declares on the authority of passages in the New Testament that to one angel the Church of the Ephesians was entrusted; to an- other, that of Smyrna; that Peter had his angel and Paul his, — nay that "every one of the little ones of the Church" has his angel who daily beholds the face of God.^ Origen advances a further theory concerning spirits, A law of which may be described as a sort of law of spiritual grav- g^avka- itation. It is that when souls are pure and "not weighted tion. down with sin as with a weight of lead," they ascend on high where other pure and ethereal bodies and spirits dwell, "leaving here below their grosser bodies along with their impurities." Polluted souls, on the contrary, have to stay close to earth where they wander about sepulchers as ghosts and apparitions.^ Origen therefore infers that pagan gods "who are attached for entire ages to particular dwellings and places" on earth, are wicked and polluted spirits. Ori- gen of course will not admit that Christians or Jews bow down even to angels; such worship they reserve for God alone.^ Both Celsus and Origen closely associate with the world Attitude of invisible spirits, whether these be angels or demons, the toward^^ visible heavenly bodies, and thus lead us from magic, which astrology. Origen makes so dependent upon demons, to the kindred subject of astrology, the pseudo-science of the stars. Celsus had censured the Jews and by implication the Christians for worshiping heaven and the angels, and even apparitions produced by sorcery and enchantment, and yet at the same time neglecting what in his opinion formed the holiest and most powerful part of the heaven, namely, the fixed stars and the planets, "who prophesy to everyone so distinctly, through whom all productiveness results, the most conspicuous of supernal heralds, real heavenly angels." ^ This shows that Celsus was much more favorably inclined toward astrology ' V, 54; see Book of Enoch, XL, " VII, 5. 9. " V, 6-9. 'Matthew. XVIII, 10. 'V, 6. 4S6 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Attitude of Origen toward astrology. than toward magic and less sceptical concerning its validity. Origen also represents Celsus — and furthermore the Stoics, Platonists, and Pythagoreans — as believing in the theory of the magnnis anmis, according to which, when the celestial bodies all return to their original positions after the lapse of some thousands of years, history will begin to repeat itself and the same events will occur and the same persons live over again. ^ Origen also complains that Celsus regards as a divinely-inspired nation the Chaldeans, who were the founders of "deceitful genethlialogy," - as well as the Magi whom Celsus elsewhere identified with the Chaldeans or astrologers, but whom Origen as we have seen regards rather as the founders of magic. Origen is opposed both to this art of casting horoscopes and determining the entire life of the individual from his nativity, and to the theory of the magnus annus, ^ because he is convinced that to admit their truth is to annihilate free- will. But he is far from having freed himself fundamen- tally from the astrological attitude toward the stars ; indeed he still shows vestiges of the old pagan tendency to worship them as divinities. He is convinced that the celestial bodies are not mere fiery masses, as Anaxagoras teaches.^ The body of a star is material, it is true, but also ethereal. But furthermore Origen is inclined to agree, both in the De prin- cipiis ^ and in the Contra Celsiim,^ that the stars are ra- tional beings {\oyLKa Kal (nrovdala — the latter word had al- ready been applied to them by Philo Judaeus) possessed of free-will and "illuminated with the light of knowledge by that wisdom which is the reflection of everlasting light." He interprets a passage in Deuteronomy "^ to mean that the stars have in general been assigned by God to all the na- tions beneath the heaven, but asserts that from this system of astral satrapies God's chosen people were exempted. He *IV, 67; V, 20-21, »VI, 80. *Duhem (1913-1917) H 447, treats of "Les Peres de I'figlise et la Grande Annec." 'V, II. _ ° De principiis, I, 7. "V, 10. ' Dent., IV, 19-20. XIX OKI GEN AND C ELS US 457 is willing to admit that the stars foretell many things, and puts especial faith in comets as omens. ^ He states that they have appeared on the eve of dynastic changes, great wars, and other disasters, and inclines also to agree with Chaere- mon the Stoic that they may come as signs of future good, as in the case of the star announcing the birth of Christ.^ But while Origen will grant reasoning faculties and a cer- tain amount of prophetic power to the stars, he refuses to permit worship of them. Rather he is persuaded "that the sun himself and moon and stars pray to the supreme God through his only begotten Son." ^ Pierre Daniel Huet (i 630-1 721), the learned bishop of Avranches and editor of Origen, in his commentaries upon Origen ^ cites other works, commentaries on Matthew, the Psalms, the Epistle to the Romans, and Ezekiel, in which Origen again states that the stars are reasoning beings, honor God, praise and pray to Him, and even that they are capable of sin, a point upon which he agrees with the Book of Enoch and Bardesanes but not with Philo Judaeus. Nicephorus ^ states that Origen was condemned in the fifth synod for his error concerning the stars being animated. Sometimes, however, Huet points out, Origen leaves it an open question whether the heavenly bodies are animated or not.^ Huet also asserts that in his own time such great men as Tycho Brahe and Kepler have defended the view that the stars are animated beings. In a fragment from Origen's Commentary on Genesis Further preserved by Eusebius we have a further discussion of the pscussion stars and astrology.'^ Here he represents even Christians Commen- as troubled by the doctrine that the stars control human Genesis. affairs absolutely. This theory he attacks as destructive to all morality, as rendering prayer to God of no avail, and as subjecting even such events as the birth of Christ and *V, 12. 'I, 59. "V, II. * P. D. Huet, Origenianorum Lib. II, Cap. II, Quaestio VIII, De astris, in Migne, Patrologia Gracca, XVII, 973, et seq. "XVII, 28. ' "In prooemio libri prioris eiusdem Ilepi apx^v, num. 10." ' Eusebius, Praep. Evang., VI, II, in Migne, PG, XXI, 477-506. 4S8 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. the conversion of each individual to Christianity to fatal necessity. Like Philo Judaeus Origen holds that the stars are merely signs instituted by God, not causes of the future, and quotes passages from the Old Testament in support of his view; like the Book of Enoch he holds that men were instructed in the interpretation of the stars' significations by the fallen angels. He argues at length that divine fore- knowledge does not impose necessity. While, however, God instituted the stars as signs of the future, He intended that only the angels should be able to read them, and deemed it best for mankind to remain in ignorance of the future. "For it is a much greater task than lies within human power to learn truly from the motion of the stars what each per- son will do and suffer." ^ The evil spirits have, however, taught men the art of astrology, but Origen believes that it is so difficult and requires such superhuman accuracy that the predictions of astrologers are more likely to be wrong than right. His tone toward astrology is thus distinctly more unfavorable here than in the Reply to Celsus. In ar- guing that the stars are merely signs, Origen asks why men admit that the flight of birds and condition of entrails in augury and liver-divination are only signs and yet insist that the stars are causes of future events.^ The answer, of course, is simple enough: all nature is under the control of the stars which alike produce the events signified and the action of the birds or condition of the liver signifying them. But the question is notable because it was also put by Plo- tinus a little later in the same century. In explaining the Book of Genesis Origen said that celes- tial and infernal virtues were represented by the waters above and below the firmament respectively. This figurative interpretation gave offence to many later Christian writers, although some of them were ready to interpret the waters above as celestial virtues, but not to take the waters below as signifying evil spirits.^ Concerning the question of a * PG, XXI, 489. 'Ibid., 501-502. •P. D. Huet, Origenianorum Lib., II, ii, V. 10, cites Basil, Homil. 3 in Hexaem.; Epiphanius, Hacr., LXIV, 4, and Epist. ad XIX 0 RIG EN AND CELSUS 459 plurality of heavens Origen says in the Reply to Celsus, "The Scriptures which are current in the Churches of God do not speak of seven heavens or of any definite number at all, but they do appear to teach the existence of heavens, whether that means the spheres of those bodies which the Greeks call planets or something more mysterious." ^ Of other pagan methods of divination than astrology Augury, Origen disapproved and classed them, as we have seen, as and^"^^' the work of demons. He was impressed by the weight of prophecy, testimony to the validity of augury,^ although he states that it has been disputed whether there is any such art, but he attributed the truth of the predictions to demons acting through the animals and pointed out that the Mosaic law forbade augury ^ and classified as unclean the animals com- monly employed in divination. The true God, he held, would not employ irrational animals at all to reveal the future, nor even any chance human being, but only the purest of prophetic souls. Origen would appear for the moment to have forgotten Balaam's ass! Moreover, he himself ac- cepted other channels of foreknowledge than holy prophecy, and believed that dreams often were of value in this respect. When Celsus, criticizing the Scriptural story of the flight into Egypt, stated that an angel descended from heaven to warn Joseph and Mary of the danger threatening the Christ child, Origen retorted that the angelic warning came rather in a dream — an occurrence which seemed in no way mar- velous to him, since **in many other cases it has happened that a dream has shown persons the proper course of ac- tion." ^ Origen grants that all men desire to ascertain the future and argues that the Jews must have had divine prophets, or, since they were forbidden by the Mosaic law to consult "observers of times and diviners," they would have Joan. Jerosolymit., cap. 3; Jerome, 'VI, 21. Epist. 61 ad Pammach., cap. 3 ; * IV, 90-95. Gregory Nyss., Kb. in Hexaem.; ' Origen quotes, "Ye shall not Augustine, Confess.. XIII, 15; practise augury nor observe the Isidore, Origin., VII, 5. flight of birds," which is found in See also Duhem (1913-1917) II, the Septuagint, Lezit., XIX, 26. 487, "Les eaux supracelestes." * I, 66. and gems. 460 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. had no means of satisfying this universal human craving. It was to slake this popular curiosity concerning the future, Origen thinks, that the Hebrew seers sometimes predicted things of no religious significance or other lasting impor- tance.^ Once Origen alludes to physiognomy, saying, "If there be any truth in the doctrine of the physiognomists, whether Zopyrus or Loxus or Polemon." ^ Animals The allusions to natural science in the Reply to Celsus are not numerous. There are a few passages where animals or gems are mentioned. The remarks concerning animals mention the usual favorites and embody familiar notions which we either have already met or shall meet again and again. Celsus speaks ^ of the knowledge of poisons and medicines possessed by animals, of predictions by birds, of assemblies held by other animals, of the fidelity with which elephants observe oaths, of the filial affection of the stork, and of the Arabian bird, the phoenix.'* Origen implies the belief that the weasel conceives through its mouth when he says, "Observe, moreover, to what pitch of wickedness the demons proceed, so that they even assume the bodies of weasels in order to reveal the future." ° Origen also ad- duces the marvelous methods of generation of several kinds of animals in support of the virgin birth of Jesus. ^ Ori- gen's allusions to gems can scarcely be classified as natural science. He contends that Plato's statement that our pre- cious stones are a reflection of gems in that better land is taken from Isaiah's description of the city of God."^ In an- other passage Origen again quotes Isaiah regarding the walls, foundations, battlements, and gates of various pre- cious stones, but states that he cannot stop to examine their spiritual meaning at present.® In one of his homilies on the Book of Numbers Origen displays a favorable attitude towards medical and pharmaceutical investigation, saying, * I, 36. Apuleius assume the bodies of ''I, 33- weasels in order to rob a corpse. " IV, 86-88. ' I, 37. * IV, 98. ' VII, 30. •IV, 93; it will be recalled that *VIII, 19-20. the witches in The Golden Ass of XIX ORIGEN AND CELSUS 461 "For if there is any science from God, what will be more from Him than the science of health, in which too the vir- tues of herbs and the diverse properties of juices are de- termined." ^ Ori gen's belief that the stars were rational beings con- Origen tinned to be held by the sect called Origenists and also by '^^er ac the heretic Priscillian and his followers in the later fourth counte- century. Priscillian, as we have seen, was accused of magic tnagic.^ and executed in 385. But we are surprised to find The- ophilus of Alexandria, who attacked some of Origen's views as heretical and persuaded Pope Anastasius to do the same, accusing Origen in a letter written in 405 and translated into Latin by Jerome, of having defended magic. ^ Theophilus states that Origen has written in one of his treatises, "The magic art seems to me a name for something which does not exist" — a bold and admirable assertion, but one which, as we have seen, the Epicurean Celsus would have been much more likely to make than the Christian Origen — "but if it does, it is not the name of an evil work." Theophilus cannot understand how Origen, who vaunts himself a Chris- tian, can thus make himself a protector of Elymas the ma- gician who opposed the apostles and of Jamnes and Mambres who resisted Moses. Huet, the learned seventeenth century editor of Origen, knew of no such passage in his extant works as that which Theophilus professes to quote. ^ * Homily 18 on Numbers, Migne, ^ Epistola 96 in Migne, PL, PG, XII, 715. XXII, 78. ' Migne, PG, XVII, 1091-92. CHAPTER XX OTHER CHRISTIAN DISCUSSION OF MAGIC BEFORE AUGUSTINE Plan of this chapter — Tertullian on magic — Astrology attacked-^ Resemblance to Minucius Felix — Lactantius — Hippolytus on magic and astrology — Frauds of magicians in answering questions — Other tricks and illusions — Defects and merits of Hippolytus' exposure of magic and of magic itself — Hippolytus' sources — Justin Martyr and others on the witch of Endor — Gregory of Nyssa and Eustathius con- cerning the ventriloquist — Gregory of Nyssa Against Fate — Astrology and the birth of Christ — Chrysostom on the star of the Magi — Sixth Homily on Matthew — The spurious homily — Number, names, and home of the Magi — Liturgical drama of the Magi; Three Kings of Cologne — Another homily on the Magi — Priscillianists answered — Number and race of the Magi again. Plan of In this chapter we shall supplement the picture of the Chris- chapter. *^^^ attitude towards magic supplied us in preceding chap- ters by some accounts of magic in other Christian writers of the period before Augustine. After giving the opinions of a few Latin fathers, Minucius Felix, Tertullian, and Lac- tantius, we shall consider the exposure of magic devices in Hippolytus' Refutation of All Heresies, then compare the utterances of other fathers concerning the witch of Endor with those of Origen, and finally discuss the treatment of the Magi and the star of Bethlehem in both the genuine and the spurious homily of Chrysostom on that theme, adding some account of the medieval development of the legend of the three Magi, although leaving until later the statements of medieval theologians and astronomers concerning the star of the Magi. This makes a rather omnibus chapter, but its component parts are too brief to separate as distinct chapters and they all supplement the preceding chapter on Origen and Celsus. 462 CHAP. XX OTHER CHRISTIAN DISCUSSION 463 Some important features of Origen's account of magic Tertullian are duplicated in the writings of the western church father, °" magic. TertulHan, who wrote at about the same time or perhaps a few years before Origen. Again the Jews are represented as calHng Christ a magician/ and when TertulHan challenges the emperors to allow a Christian exorcist to appear before them and attempt to expel a demon from someone so pos- sessed and force the spirit to confess its evil character, he expects that his Christian exorcist will be accused of em- ploying magic.^ Again divination and magic are attributed to the fallen angels; in fact, Tertullian follows the Book ' of Enoch in stating that men were instructed by the fallen angels in metallurgy and botany as well as in incantations and astrology.^ The demons are represented as invisible and "everywhere in a moment." Living as they do in the air near the clouds and stars, they are enabled to predict the weather. They send diseases and then pretend to cure them by the recommendation of novel remedies or prescrip- tions quite contrary to accepted medical practice.^ "There is hardly a human being who is unattended by a demon." ^ Magicians are described by Tertullian as producing phan- tasms, insulting the souls of the dead, injuring boys for purposes of divination, sending dreams, and performing many miraculous feats by their complicated jugglery.* "The science of magic" is well defined as "a multiform con- tagion of the human mind, an artificer of every error, a de- stroyer of safety and soul." As examples of well-known magicians Tertullian lists Ostanes and Typhon and Dar- danus and Damigeron "^ and Nectabis ^ and Berenice. Ter- ^ Tertullian, Apology, cap. 21 ; Lithica, and in the Apology of so also Cyprian, Liber de idolorum Apuleius, cap. 45 ; is cited in the vanitate, cap. 13. Latin text of Geoponica, and was regarded by Tertullian in PL, vols. 1-2; Eng- V. Rose as the Greek source of lish translation in AN, vol. 3. the Latin "Evax" and Marbod on 'Apology, cap. 23. stones. BN 7418, 14th century, ^ De cultu feminarum, I, 2. Amigeronis de lapidibus, was * Apology, cap. 22. printed by Pitra, Spic. Solcsm., ^ De anima, cap. 57. Ill, 324-35, and Abel, Orphei ^Apology, cap. 23. Lithica, p. 157, et seq. See fur- '' De anima, cap. 57. Damigeron ther PW, "Damigeron." is mentioned in the Orphic poem, * Presumably Nectanebus. 464 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. tullian states that a literature is current which promises to evoke ghosts from the infernal regions, but that in such cases the dead are really impersonated by demons, as was the fact when the p)rthoness seemed to show Samuel to Saul, a point on which Tertullian disagrees with Origen. Magic is therefore fallacious, a point which Tertullian emphasizes more than Origen did, although Tertullian is not very ex- plicit. He avers that "it is no great task to deceive the outer eye of him whose mental insight it is easy to blind." The rods of Pharaoh's magicians seemed to turn into snakes, "but Moses' ^ reality devoured their deceit." Astrologj- Tertullian further diverges from Origen in definitely classifying astrology as a species of magic along with that other variety of magic which works miracles. Astrology is an art which was invented by the fallen angels and with which Christians should have nothing to do. Tertullian would not mention it but for the fact that recently a certain person has defended his persistence in that profession, that is, presumably after he had become a Christian. Tertul- lian states, again unlike Origen, that the Magi who came from the east to the Christ child were astrologers — "We know the union existing between magic and astrology" — but that Christ's followers are under no obligation to as- trology on their account, although he again implies the ex- istence of Christian astrologers in the sarcastic remark, "Astrology now-a-days, forsooth, treats of Christ; is the science of the stars of Christ, not of Saturn and Mars." As Origen affirmed that the power of the demons and of magic was greatly weakened by the birth of Christ, so Ter- tullian affirm,s that the science of the stars was allowed to exist until the coming of the Gospel, but that since Christ's birth no one should cast nativities. "For since the Gospel you will never find sophist or Chaldean or enchanter or diviner or magician who has not been manifestly pun- ished." ^ Tertullian rejoices that the mathematici or as- *It is Aaron's rod in the King ^ De idolatria, cap. 9. James version. XX OTHER CHRISTIAN DISCUSSION 465 trologers are forbidden to enter Rome or Italy, the reason being, as he states in another passage,^ that they are con- sulted so much in regard to the life of the emperor. Tertullian's account of magic is perhaps borrowed from Resem- the dialogue entitled Octavius by M. Minucius Felix, ^ which Mlnucius is generally regarded as the oldest extant work of Christian Felix. Latin literature and was probably written in the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Some of the words and phrases used by Tertullian and Minucius Felix in describing magic are almost identical,^ and a third passage of the same sort appears in Cyprian of Carthage in the third century.* Ostanes, one of Tertullian's list of magicians, is also mentioned as the first prominent magician by both Minucius Felix and Cyprian. Minucius Felix ascribes magic to demons and seems to re- gard it as a deceptive and rather unreal art, saying, "The magicians not only are acquainted with demons, but what- ever miraculous feats they perform, they do through demons; under their influence and inspiration they produce illusions, making things seem to be which are not, or mak- ing real things seem non-existent." A century after Tertullian Lactantius of Gaul treats of Lactan- magic and demons in about the same way in his Divine In- **"^* stitntes,^ written at the opening of the fourth century. He denies that Christ was a magician and declares that His miracles differed from those attributed to Apuleius and Apollonius of Tyana in that they were announced before- hand by the prophets. **He worked marvels," Lactantius says to his opponents, "and we should have thought Him a magician, as you think now and as the Jews thought at the time, had not all the prophets with one accord predicted that Christ would do these very things." ^ Lactantius believes ^Apology, cap. 35. edunt ... si multa miracula cir- " PL, vol. 3 ; AN, vol. 4, culatoriis praestigiis ludunt." " Thus Minucius Felix says, * Cyprian, Liber de idolorum Octavius, cap. 26, "Magi . . . vanitate, caps. 6-7. quidquid miraculi ludunt ... * PL, vol. VI ; AN, vol. VII ; the praestigias edunt," while Ter- following references are all to tullian. Apology, cap. 23, writes, this work. "Porro si et magi phantasmata * V, 3, 466 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Hippoly- tus on magic and astrology. that the offspring of the fallen angels and "the daughters of men" were a different variety of demon from their fathers and more terrestrial. Be that as it may, he affirms that the entire art and power of the magicians consist in invocations of demons who "deceive human vision by blinding illusions so that men do not see what does exist and think that they see what does not exist," ^ the very expression that we have just heard from Minucius Felix. More specifically Lactan- tius regards necromancy, oracles, liver-divination, augury, and astrology as all invented by the demons.^ Like Origen he emphasizes the power of the sign of the cross and the name of Jesus against the evil spirits,^ and he implies the power of the names of spirits when he states that, although demons may masquerade under other forms and names in pagan temples and worships, in magic and sorcery they are always summoned by their true names, those celestial ones which are read in sacred literature.* From these accounts of magic in Latin fathers, which do little more than reinforce the impressions which we had already gained concerning the Christian attitude, we come to a very different discussion by Hippolytus who wrote in Greek although he lived in Italy. Eusebius and Jerome state that Origen as a young man heard Hippolytus preach at Rome; in 235 he was exiled to Sardinia; the next year his body was brought back to Rome for burial. In Hippoly- tus, instead of attacks upon astrology as impious, immoral, and fatalistij:, and upon magic as evil and the work of demons, we have an attempt to prove astrology irrational and impracticable, and to show that magic is based upon imposture and deceit. In the first four of the nine books of his Philosophiimena or Refutation of All Heresies ^ Hip- polytus set forth the tenets of the Greek philosophers, the system of the astrologers, and the practice of the magicians 'II, IS. 'II, 17. •IV, 27. MI, 17. "The work was discovered in 1842 at Mount Athos and edited by E. Miller in 1851, Duncker and Schneidewin in 1859, and Abbe Cruice in i860. Greek text in PG, vol. XVI, part 3 ; English transla- tion in AN, vol. V. XX OTHER CHRISTIAN DISCUSSION 467 In order later to be able to show how much the various here- tics had borrowed from these sources. His second and third books are not extant ; it is in the fourth book or what is left of it that we have portions of his discussion of astrology and magic.^ In exposing the frauds of magicians Hippolytus uses the word judTos, and not yo-qs, a sorcerer. He tells how the magicians pretend that the spirits give response through a medium to questions which those consulting them have written on papyrus, perhaps in invisible ink, and folded up, after which the papyrus is placed on coals and burned. The magician, however, operating in semi-darkness and making a great noise and diversion and pretending to invoke the demon, is really occupied in sprinkling the burnt papyrus with a mixture of water and copperas (vitriol?) or fumi- gating it with vapor of a gall nut or employing other meth- ods to make the concealed letters visible. Having by some such method discovered the question, he instructs the me- dium, who is now supposed to be possessed of demons and is reclining upon a couch, what answer to give by whis- pering to him through a long hidden tube constructed out of the windpipe of a crane or ten brass pipes fitted together. It will be recalled that it was by such a tube made of the windpipes of cranes that Alexander the false prophet, ac- cording to Lucian, caused the artificial head of his god to give forth oracles. Hippolytus adds that at the same time the magician produces alarming flames and liquids by such chemical mixtures as fossil salts and Etruscan wax and a grain of salt. "And when this is consumed, the salts bound upward and give the impression of a strange vision." ^ Hippolytus also reveals how magicians secretly fill eggs with dyes, how they cause sheep to behead themselves against a sword by smearing their throats with a drug which makes them itch, how a ram dies if its head is merely bent back facing the sun, how they obstruct the ears of goats with * R. Ganschinietz, Hippolyto^ text. Frauds of magicians in answer- ing ques- tions. Other tricks and illusions. Capitel gegen die Magier, 1913, in TU, 39, 2, is a commentary on the 28. 'Refutation of All Heresies, IV, 468 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Defects and merits of Hippo- lytus' ex- posure of magic and of magic itself. wax SO that they cannot breathe and presently die of suffo- cation, how out of sea foam they make a compound which, like alcohol, will itself burn but not consume the objects over which it is poured.-^ He tells how the magician pro- duces stage thunder, how he is able to plunge his hand into a boiling cauldron or walk over hot coals without being burnt, and how he can set a seeming pyramid of stone on fire. He tells how the magicians loosen seals and seal them up again, just as Lucian did in his Alexander or The Pseudo- Prophet; how by means of trap-doors, mirrors, and the like devices they show demons in a cauldron; how they pretend to show flaming demons by igniting drawings which they have sketched on the wall with some inflammable substance or by loosing a bird which has been set on fire. They make the moon appear indoors and imitate the starry sky by at- taching fish scales to the ceiling. They produce the sensa- tion of an earthquake by burning the ordure of a weasel with the stone magnet upon an open fire. They construct a false skull from the caul of an ox, some wax, and some gum, make it speak by means of a hidden tube, and then cause it suddenly to collapse and disappear or to burn up.^ This exposition of the frauds of the magicians by Hippo- lytus is rather broken and incoherent, at least in the form in which his text has reached us.^ Also we do not have much more faith in some of the methods by which he says the feats of magic are really done than he has in the ways by which the magicians claim to perform them. But while his notions of the chemical action of certain substances and of the occult virtue of others may be incorrect, the note- * Since writing this sentence I have found an article by Diels on the discovery of alcohol in So- cietas Regia Scientiarum, Abhandl. Philos.-Hist. Classe, Berlin, 1913, in which he argues from this passage in Hippolytus that the discovery was made in the Alex- andrian period and that it reached western Europe again only through the Arabs about the twelfth century, since alcohol is not mentioned in the older Schlettstadt version of the Mappae clazncufa. If this be so, Adelard of Bath was perhaps the first to introduce it from the Arabs or the orient, although Diels does not say so. ^Refutation of All Heresies, IV, 29-41. ' In some places the text is il- legible. XX OTHER CHRISTIAN DISCUSSION 469 worthy point is that he endeavors to explain magic either as a deception or as employing natural substances and forces to simulate supernatural action, and that his exposure of magic devices leaves no place for the action of demons. Moreover, v^e see that magic fraud involves chemical ex- periment and considerable knowledge or error in the field of natural science. Under the guise or tyranny of magic experimental science is at work. The question then arises whether Hippolytus himself Hippoly discovered these tricks of the magicians or whether he is sources, simply copying his explanations of them from some previous work. An examination of the earlier chapters of his fourth book is sufficient to solve the question. His arguments against the practice of the Chaldean astrologers of predict- ing man's life from his horoscope at the time of his birth are drawn from the pages of the sceptical philosopher, Sextus Empiricus, whom he follows so closely that his editors are able to rectify his text by reference to the parallel passage in Sextus. We are therefore probably safe in assuming, especially in view of the resemblances to the Alexander of Lucian which have already been noted, that Hippolytus' attack on magic is also largely indebted to some classical work, possibly to that very treatise against magic by Celsus to which both Origen and Lucian refer, or perhaps to some account of apparatus with which to work marvels like Hero's Pneumatics. Turning back now to the subject of the witch of Endor, Justin we find that some of the church fathers agree with Origen ^,^Y ^^ rather than Tertullian that the witch really invoked Samuel, others on Before Origen' s time Justin Martyr in The Dialogue zvitJi of Endor. Trypho ^ had mentioned as a proof of the immortality of the soul "the fact that the soul of Samuel was called up by the witch, as Saul demanded." Huet, who edited the writ- ings of Origen, lists other Christian authors ^ who agreed ^ Cap. 105. Anastasius Antiochenus, '05riy6s, *Leo Allatius "in syntagmate" quaest., 112; "et eorum quos lau- De engastrimytho, cap, 7 ; Sulpicius dat Bellarminus liber IV de Severus, Historia sacra, liber I; C/imfo, cap. 11." 470 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. with Origen on this question, and further informs us that the ancient rabbis were wont to say that a soul invoked with- in a year after its death as Samuel's was, would be seen by the ventriloquist but not heard, and heard by the person consulting it but not seen, an observation which suggests that Saul was deceived by ventriloquism, while by others present the ghost would be neither seen nor heard. Gregory Two ecclesiastics of the fourth century composed spe- ° dE^-^ cial treatises upon the ventriloquist or witch of Endor in stathius which they took the opposite view from that of Origen. the ven- The briefer of these two treatises is by Gregory of Nyssa •"■ tnloquist. Y^i^Q states, without mentioning Origen by name, that some previous writers have contended that Samuel was truly in- voked by magic with divine permission in order that he might see his mistake in having called Saul the enemy of ven- triloquists. But Gregory believes that Samuel was already in paradise and hence could not be invoked from the in- fernal regions; but that it was a demon from the infernal regions who predicted to Saul, "To-morrow you and Jona- than shall be with me," The longer treatise of Eustathius of Antioch is a direct answer to Origen's argument as its title, Concerning the Ventriloquist against Origen,^ indi- cates. Eustathius holds that it was illegal to consult ven- triloquists in view of Saul's own previous action against them and other prohibitions in Scripture, and that Origen's remarks are to be deplored as tending to encourage simple men to resort to arts of divination. Eustathius contends that the witch did not invoke Samuel but only made Saul think that she did, and that Saul himself did not see Samuel. Pharaoh's magicians similarly deceived the imagination with shadows and specters when they pretended to turn rods into snakes and water into blood. Eustathius does not agree with Origen that Samuel was in hell. He holds that the predictions made by the pseudo-Samuel were not impossible for a demon to make, and indeed were not strictly accurate, ^HeplT^s 'eyya2), Liber collectus de gestis et translationibus sanc- torum trium regum de Colonia; Laud Misc., 658, The history of the three kings of Cologne, in forty-one chapters with a preface. It is thus seen that the number of Liturgical drama of the Magi: The Three Kings of Cologne. 478 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Another homily on the Magi. Priscil- lianists answered. Finally we may note the contents of the homily on the Magi which immediately precedes the liturgical drama con- cerning them in the above mentioned tenth century lection- ary,^ The Magi are said to have come on the thirteenth day of Christ's nativity. That they came from the Orient was fitting since they sought one of whom it had been written, Ecce vir oriens. It was also fitting that Christ's coming should be announced to shepherds of Israel by a rational angel, to Gentile Magi by an irrational star. This star appeared neither in the starry heaven nor on earth but in the air ; it had not existed before and ceased to exist after it had fulfilled its function. Although he has just said that the star appeared in the air and not in the sky, the preacher now adds that when a new man was bom in the world it was fitting that a new star should appear in the sky. He also, in pointing out how all the elements recognized that their Creator had come into the world, states that the sky sent a star, the sea allowed Him to walk upon it, the sun was darkened, stones were broken and the earth quaked when He died. Since the heretics known as Priscillianists have adduced the star at Christ's birth to prove that every man is born under the fates of the stars, the preacher endeavors to answer them. He holds that since the star came to where Jesus lay He controlled it rather than vice versa. Then follow the usual arguments against genethlialogy that many men born under the sign Aquarius are not fishermen, that sons of serfs are born at the same time as princes, and the chapters varies. Coxe's catalogue of the Laud MSS states that the Latin original was printed at Cologne in quarto in 1481, and that it is very different from the version printed by Wynkyn de Worde. "The Story of the Magi," in Bodleian (Bernard) 2325, covers only folio 68. At Amiens is a MS which the catalogue dates in the 14th century and ascribes to John of Hildesheim, and its Incipit is practically that of the printed edition : Amiens 481, f ols. 1-58, "Reverendissimo in Christo Patri ac domino domino Floren- tino de Wovellonem (sic) divina providencia Monasteriensis ec- clesie episcopo dignissimo. Cum venerandissimorum triuni Ma- gorum, ymo verius trium Regum." The work ends in the MS with the words, ". . . summi Regis servant legem incole Colonic. Amen. Explicit hystoria." ^ BN 16819, lOth century, fols. 46r-49r. XX OTHER CHRISTIAN DISCUSSION 479 case of Jacob and Esau. The star was merely a sign to the Magi and by its twinkhng illuminated their minds to seek the new-born babe. It seems scarcely consistent that a star which the preacher has called irrational should illuminate minds. The homily goes on to say that opinions differ as to Number who the Magi were and whence they came. Owing to ^ the '^^ the prophecy that the kings of Tarsus and the isles offer Magi again. presents, the kings of the Arabs and Sheba bring gifts, some regard Tarsus, Arabia, and Sheba as the homes of the Magi. Others call them Persians or Chaldeans, since Chal- deans are skilled in astronomy. Others say that they were descendants of Balaam. At any rate they were the first Gentiles to seek Christ and they are well said to have been three, symbolizing faith in the Trinity, the three virtues, faith, hope and charity, the three safeguards against evil thoughts, words and works, and the three Gentile contribu- tions to the Faith of physics, ethics, and logic, or natural, moral, and rational philosophy. The preacher then indulges in further allegorical interpretation anent Herod and what was typified by the gifts of the Magi.^ * Marco Polo (I, 13-14, ed. Yule See also F. W. K. Miiller, and Cordier, 1903, vol. I, 78-81), Uigurica, I, i, Die Anbetung der who _ located the Magi in Saba, Magier, ein Christliches Bruch- Persia, _ recounts further legends stuck , Berlin, 1908. concerning them and their gifts. CHAPTER XXI CHRISTIANITY AND NATURAL SCIENCE : BASIL, EPIPHANIUS, AND THE PHYSIOLOGUS Lactantius not a fair example — Commentaries on the Biblical -account of creation — Date and delivery of Basil's Hexaemeron — The Hexaem- eron of Ambrose — Basil's medieval influence — Science and religion — Scientific curiosity of Basil's audience — Allusions to amusements — Con- flicts with Greek science — Agreement with Greek science — Qualification of the Scriptural account of creation — The four elements and four qualities — Enthusiasm for nature as God's work — Sin and nature — Habits of animals — Marvels of nature — Spontaneous generation — Lack of scientific scepticism — Sun worship and astrology — Permanence of species — Final impression from the Hexaemeron — The Medicine Chest of Epiphanius — Gems in the high priest's breastplate — Some other gems — The so-called Physiologus; problem of its origin — Does the title apply to any one particular treatise? — And to what sort of a treatise? — Medieval art shows almost no symbolic influence of the Physiologus — Physiologus was more natural scientist than allegorist. Lactantius The opposition of early Christian thought to natural science has been rather unduly exaggerated. For instance, Lactantius, one of the least favorable to Greek philosophy and natural science of the fathers, should hardly be cited as typical of early Christian attitude in such matters. Nor does his opposition impress one as weighty.^ He ridicules the theory of the Antipodes,^ which he perhaps understands *Beazley, Dawn of Modern here, too, I wonder if he is not Geography, I, 274, says, "Angus- following Letronne, Des Opinions tine and Chrysostom felt and Cosmographiques des Peres, with- spoke in the same way, though in out having examined the citations, more measured language, and Certainly no such attitude is found nearly all early Christian writers in Basil's Hexaemeron, Hom. 3 who touched upon the matter did and 9 as the citation implies. I so to echo the voice of authorities have not seen Marinelli, La so unquestioned." But I cannot gcographia e i Padri delta Chiesa, agree with this statement. He estratto dal Bollettino della Societd goes on to imply that a majority geografica italiana, anno 1882, pp. of the fathers, like Cosmas Indi- 11-15. copleustes, attacked the belief in " Diznn. Instit., Ill, 24. the sphericity of the earth ; but 480 CHAP. XXI CHRISTIANITY AND NATURAL SCIENCE 481 none too well, asking if anyone can be so inept as to think that there are men whose feet are above their heads, al- though he knows very well that Greek science teaches that all weights fall towards the center of the earth, and that consequently if the feet are nearer the center of the earth that they must be below the head. He continues, however, to insist that the philosophers are either very stupid, or just joking, or arguing for the sake of arguing, and he declares that he could show by many arguments that the heaven cannot possibly be lower than the earth — which no one has asserted except himself — if it were not already time to close his third book and begin the fourth. Apparently Lactantius is the one who is arguing for the sake of arguing, or just joking, or else very stupid, and I fear it is the last. But other Christian fathers were less dense, and we already have heard the cultured pagan Plutarch scoff at the notion of a spherical earth and of antipodes. We may grant, how- ever, that the ecclesiastical writers of the Roman Empire and early medieval period normally treat of spiritual rather than material themes and discuss them in a religious rather than a scientific manner. But in the commentaries upon the books of the Bible Commen- which the fathers multiplied so voluminously it was neces- the Bibli- sary for them, if they began their labors with Genesis, to cal account deal at the very start in the first verses of the first book of tion. the Bible with an explanation of nature which at several points was in disagreement with the accepted theories of Greek philosophy and ancient science. Such comment upon the opening verses of Genesis sometimes developed into a separate treatise called Hexaemeron from the works of the six days of creation which it discussed. Of the various treatises of this type the Hexaemeron of Basil ^ seems to have been both the best ^ and the most influential, and will be considered by us as an example of Christian attitude towards *Migne, PG, vol. 29; PN, vol. 8. work as "a la fois plus sobre, plus "Duhem (1914) II, 394, how- concis, et plus philosophique. . . ." ever, prefers Gregory of Nyssa's 482 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Date and delivery of Basil's Hexaem- eron. The Hexacm- eron of Ambrose. the natural science and, to some extent, the superstition of the ancient world. Basil died on the first day of January, 379 A. D., and was born about 329. When or where the nine homilies which compose his Hexaemeron were preached is not known, but from an allusion to his bodily infirmity in the seventh homily and his forgetfulness the next day in Homily VIII we might infer that it was late in life. To all appearances these sermons were taken down and have reached us just as they were delivered to the people, to whose daily life Basil frequently adverts. The sermons were delivered early in the morning before the artisans in the audience went to their work and again at the close of the day and before the evening meal, since Basil sometimes speaks of the ap- proach of darkness surprising him and of its consequently being time to stop.^ One of the surest indications either that the sermons were delivered extemporaneously, or that Basil was repeating with variations to suit the occasion and present audience sermons which he had delivered so often as to have practically memorized, occurs in the eighth homily where he starts to discuss land animals, forgetting that the last day he did not get to birds, but is presently brought to a realization of his omission by the actions of his audience and, after a pause and an apology, makes a fresh start upon birds. The Hexaemeron was highly praised by Basil's contemporaries and was regarded as the best of his works by later Byzantine literary collectors and critics. Basil's work, however, was not the first of its kind, as Hippolytus and Origen, at least, are known to have earlier composed similar treatises, and still earlier in the treatise * Homily I was delivered in the morning, II in the evening; III was in the morning and speaks of a coming evening address. At the close of Homily VII Basil urges his hearers to talk over at their evening meal what they have heard this morning and this eve- ning. If we regard Homily VI as the morning address referred to, we shall have Homily V left to cover an entire day. Homily VI, however, is the longest of the nine. In any case Homily VIII is clearly preached in the morning, and IX at evening. XXI CHRISTIANITY AND NATURAL SCIENCE 483 of Theophilus To Aiitolyciis we find a few chapters ^ de- voted to the six days of creation. In one of his letters Jerome states that "Ambrose recently so compiled the Hexaemeron of Origen that he rather followed the views of Hippolytus and Basil." ^ This Latin work of Ambrose is extant and seems to me to follow Basil very closely. At times the order of presentation is slightly varied and the work of Ambrose is longer, but this is due to its more verbose rhetoric and greater indulgence in Biblical quotation, and not to the introduction of new ideas. The Benedictine editors of Ambrose admit that he has taken a great deal from Basil but deny that he has servilely imitated him.^ But a striking instance of such servile imitation is seen in Ambrose's duplicating even Basil's mistake in omitting to discuss birds and then apologizing for it, reminding one of the Chinese workman who made all the new dinner plates with a crack and a toothpick stuck in it, like the old broken plate which he had been given as a model. It is true that Ambrose does not first discuss land animals for a page as Basil did, but makes his apology more immediately. The opening words of the eighth sermon in the twelfth chapter of his fifth book are, "And after he had remained silent for a moment, again resuming his discourse, he said . . ." Then comes his apology, expressed in different terms from Basil's and to the effect that in his previous discourse upon fishes he became so immersed in the depths of the sea as to forget all about birds. Thus the incident which in Basil had every appearance of a natural mistake, in Ambrose has all the earmarks of an affected imitation. It is barely possi- ble, however, that Origen made the original mistake and that Basil and Ambrose have both imitated him in it. On the other hand, we are told that the Hexaemerons of Origen * Bk. II, caps. 10-17. ment of the work of creation, * Epistola 65, ad Pamniachium. continues to comment on the text Augustine's De Gcncsi ad litteram, up to Adam's expulsion from which Cassiodorus (Institutes, I, Paradise. i) esteemed above the commen- ^ Migne, PL, 14, 131-2. The most taries of Basil and Ambrose upon recent edition of the Hexaemeron Genesis, is a som.ewhat similar of Ambrose is by C. Schenkl. work, but, after a briefer treat- Vienna, 1896. 484 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Basil's medieval influence. and Basil differed fundamentally in this respect, that Origen indulged to a great extent in allegorical interpretation of the Mosaic account of creation/ while Basil declares that he "takes all in the literal sense," is "not ashamed of the Gospel," and "admits the common sense of the Scriptures." ^ At any rate, Basil's Hexaemeron seems to have sup- planted all such previous treatises in Greek, while its west- em influence is shown not only by Ambrose's imitation of it so soon after its production, but by Latin translations of it by Eustathius Afer in the fifth, and perhaps by Dionysius Exiguus in the sixth century. Medieval manuscripts of it are fairly numerous and sometimes of early date,^ and include an Anglo-Saxon epitome ascribed to Aelfric in the Bodleian Library, Bartholomew of England * in the thir- teenth century quotes "Rabanus who uses the words of Basil in the Hexaemeron" for a description of the empyrean heaven which I have been unable to find in the works of *Fialon, £tude sur St. Basile, 1869, p. 296. "" Homily IX. * For example, in the catalogue, published in 1744, of MSS in the then Royal Library at Paris there are listed five copies of Eustathius' Latin translation, dating from the ninth to the fourteenth century — 2200, 4; 1701, i; 1702, i; 1787A, 2 ; 2633, I ; and fifteen copies of the Hexaemeron of Ambrose — 1718; 1702, 2; 1719 to 1727 in- clusive ; 2387, 4 ; 2637 and 2638. I have not noted what MSS of the Hexaemerons of Basil and Ambrose are found in the British Museum and Bodleian libraries. Some other medieval copies of Basil's in Latin translation are : BN 12134, 9th century Lombard hand; Vendome 122, nth cen- tury, fols. I v-60; Soissons 121, I2th century, fol. 97, Eustathius' prologue and a part of his trans- lation; Grenoble 258, 12th cen- tury, fols. 1-45, "Eustathii trans- latio. . . ." The Hexaemeron of Ambrose, since written originally in Latin, is naturally found oftener. The oldest MS is said to be CU Corpus Christi 193, large Lom- bard script of the 8th century which closely resembles BN 3836. Other MSS are: BN 11624, nth century; BN 12135, 9th century; BN 12136, i2-i3th century; BN 13336, nth century; BN 14847, I2th century, fol. 163; BN nouv. acq. 490, i2th century; Vatican 269-273 inclusive, io-i5th centu- ries ; Alenqon 10, 12th century ; Vendome 129, 12th century, fols. 48-126; Semur, 10, 12th century; Chartres 63, 10- nth century, fols. 3-46; Orleans 35, nth century; Orleans 192, 7th century, part of the first two books only ; Amiens fonds Lescalopier 30, 12th cen- tury; le Mans 15, nth century; Brussels 1782, loth century; CLM 2549, I2th century; CLM 3728, loth century; CLM 6258, loth century; CLM 13079, 12th cen- tury ; CLM 14399, I2th century ; Novara 40, 12th century; and many other MSS of later date in these and other libraries. * De proprietatibus rerum, VIII, 4- XXI CHRISTIANITY AND NATURAL SCIENCE 485 either Rabanus or Basil. Bede, in a similar, though much abbreviated, work of his own, states that while many have said many things concerning the beginning of the Book of Genesis, the chief authorities, so far as he has been able to discover, are Basil of Caesarea, whom Eustathius trans- lated from Greek into Latin, Ambrose of Milan, and Augus- tine, bishop of Hippo. These works, however, were so long and expensive that only the rich could afford to purchase them and so profound that only the learned could read and understand them. Bede had accordingly been requested to compose a brief rendition of them, which he does partly in his own words, partly in theirs.^ The general tenor of Basil's treatise may be described Science as follows. He accepts the literal sense of the first chapter religion. of Genesis as a correct account of the universe, and, when he finds Greek philosophy and science in disagreement with the Biblical narrative, inveighs against the futilities and follies and conflicting theories and excessive elaborations of the philosophers. On such occasions the simple state- ments of Scripture are sufficient for him. "Upon the essence of the heavens we are contented with what Isaiah says. ... In the same way, as concerns the earth, let us resolve not to torment ourselves by trying to find out its essence. ... At all events let us prefer the simplicity of faith to the demonstrations of reason." ^ These three quotations illustrate his attitude at such times. But at all other times he is apt to follow Greek science rather implicitly, accepting without question its hypothesis of four elements and four qualities, and taking all his details about birds, beasts, and fish from the same source. Moreover, while Basil may affirm that the edification Scientific of the church is his sole aim and interest, it is evident that '^"''iP^'tX 1 , . , . of Basil 3 his audience are possessed by a lively scientific curiosity, audience. * Bede, Hexaemeron, sive libri quatuor in principium Genesis usque ad nativitatem Isaac et electionem Ismaelis, in Migne, PL, Qi, 9-100. Bede originally in- tended to carry his work only to the expulsion of Adam from Paradise, but subsequently added three more books. 'Homilies I, VIII, and X. 486 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chaf. and that they wish to hear a great deal more about natural phenomena than Isaiah or any other Biblical author has to offer them. "What trouble you have given me in my pre- vious discourses," exclaims Basil in his fourth homily, "by asking me why the earth was invisible, why all bodies are naturally endued with color, and why all color comes under the sense of sight? And perhaps my reason did not appear sufficient to you. . . , Perhaps you will ask me new ques- tions." Basil gratifies this curiosity concerning the world of nature with many details not mentioned in the Bible but drawn from such works as Aristotle's Meteorology and History of Animals. This scientific curiosity displayed by Basil's hearers is the more interesting in that artisans who had to labor for their daily bread appear to have made up a large element in his audience.-^ It is perhaps on their ac- count that Basil often speaks of God as the supreme artisan or artificer or artist,^ or calls their attention to "the vast and varied workshop of divine creation," ^ and makes other flattering allusions to arts which support life or produce enduring work, and to waterways and sea trade.* He also seems to have a sincere appreciation of the arts and admira- tion of beauty, which he twice defines.^ At the risk of digression, it is perhaps worth noting further that Basil's hearers seem to have been very familiar with, not to say fond of, the amusements common in the cities of the Roman Empire. Twice he opens his sermons with allusions to the athletes of the circus and actors of the theater,® apparently as the surest way of quickly catch- ing the attention of his audience, while on a third occasion, in concluding his morning address on what appears to have been a holiday, he remarks that if he had dismissed them earlier, some would have spent the rest of the day gambling with dice, and that "the longer I keep you, the longer you are out of the way of mischief." ^ He also alludes to the * Homily III, i and lO. M, 7; III, 5 and lo. 'IV, I. M, 7; HI, 5; IV, 3, 4, and 7; VI, 9; VII, 6. *II, 7; III, 10. •IV. i; VI, I. 'VIII, 8. XXI CHRISTIANITY AND NATURAL SCIENCE 487 spinning of tops and to what was apparently the game of push-ball.-^ Taking up the contents of the Hexaemeron more in detail, we may first note those points upon which Basil sup- ports the statements of the Bible against Greek science and philosophy. He of course insists that the universe was created by God and is not co-existent, much less identical, with Him.- He also denies that the form of the world alone is due to God and that matter is of separate origin.^ Nor will he accept the arguments of the philosophers who "would rather lose their tongues" than admit that there is more than one heaven. Basil is ready to believe not merely in a second, but a third heaven, such as the apostle Paul speaks of being rapt to. He regards a plurality of heavens as no more difficult to credit than the seven concentric spheres of the planets, and as much more probable than the philosophic theory of the music of the spheres which he decries as "ingenious frivolity, the untruth of which is evi- dent from the first word." ■* He also defends the statement of Scripture that there are waters above the firmament, not only against the doctrines of ancient astronomy,^ but also against "certain writers in the church," among whom he probably has Origen in mind, who interpret the passage figuratively and assert that the waters stand for "spiritual and incorporeal powers," those above the firmament repre- senting good angels and those below the firmament standing for evil demons. "Let us reject these theories as we would the interpretations of dreams and old-wives' tales." ^ In connection with Basil's defense of the plurality of the heavens it may be noted that R. H. Charles presents evidence to show "that speculations or definitely formulated views on the plurality of the heavens were rife in the very cradle of Christendom and throughout its entire develop- ment," and that "the prevailing view was that of the seven- Conflicts with Greek science. * Homily V, 10; IX, 2 *ni, 3. \l ^■ " II, 4, et sea. ' II. I. * III, 9. 488 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Agree- ment with Greek Qualifica- tion of the Scriptural account of creation. fold division of the heavens," ^ He fails, however, to dis- criminate between the doctrine of Greek philosophy that the universe was one, although the circles of the planets are seven, and the plurality of the heavens, which Basil insists that the philosophers deny; and very probably the Jewish and early Christian notions of successive heavens full of angels and spirits developed from the spheres of the planets. Among the various early heresies described by the fathers are also found, of course, many allusions to these seven spheres or heavens. The disciples of Valentinus, for ex- ample, according to Irenaeus and Epiphanius, "affirm that these seven heavens are intelligent and speak of them as angels . . . and declare that Paradise, situated above the third heaven, is a powerful angel." ^ On the other hand, we may note some points where Basil is in accord with Greek science. He warns his hearers not to "be surprised that the world never falls; it occupies the center of the universe, its natural place." ^ He advances numerous proofs of the immense size of the sun and moon.* He accepts the hypothesis of four elements but abstains from passing judgment upon the question of a fifth ele- ment of which the heavens and celestial bodies may be composed.^ He thinks that "it needs not the space of a moment for light to pass through" the ether.^ Moreover, Basil finds it necessary to qualify some of the statements in the first chapter of Genesis. He inter- prets the command, "Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place," to apply only to the sea or ocean, which he contends is one body of water, and not to pools and lakes,'^ recognizing that otherwise "our ex- planation of the creation of the world may appear contrary to experience, because it is evident that all the waters did not flow together in one place." In this connection he * Charles, The Book of the ' Homily I, lO. Secrets of Enoch, Introduction, * VI, 9-1 1. pp. xxxi, xxxix. * I, II. ' Irenaeus, I, 5 ; Epiphanius, ed. ' II, 7. Petavius t86AB. 'IV, 2-4. XXI CHRISTIANITY AND NATURAL SCIENCE 489 states that "although some authorities think that the Hyrcanian and Caspian Seas are enclosed in their own boundaries, if we are to believe the geographers, they com- municate with each other and together discharge them- selves into the Great Sea." He speaks of "the vast ocean, so dreaded by navigators, which surrounds the isle of Brit- ain and western Spain." ^ Later he contends that "sea water is the source of all the moisture of the earth." ^ He has also to meet the following objection made to the eleventh and twelfth verses of the first chapter of Genesis: "How then, they say, can Scripture describe all the plants of the earth as seed-bearing, when the reed, couch-grass, mint, crocus, garlic, and the flowering rush and countless other species produce no seed? To this we reply that many vegetables have their seminal virtue in the lower part and in the roots." ^ Basil regards the words of Genesis, "God called the dry land earth," as a recognition of the fact that drought is the primal property of earth, as humidity is of air ; cold, of water; and heat, of fire. He adds, however, that "our eyes and senses can find nothing which is completely singu- lar, simple, and pure. Earth is at the same time dry and cold; water, cold and moist; air, moist and warm; fire, warm and dry." ^ Indeed, as he has already stated in the previous homily, the mixture of elements in actual objects is even more intricate than this last sentence might seem to indicate. Every element is in every other, and we not only do not perceive with our senses any pure elements but not even any compounds of two elements only.^ Basil is alive to the absorbing interest of the world of nature and to the marvelous intricacies of natural science. He tells his hearers that as "anyone not knowing a town is taken by the hand and led through it," so he will guide them "through the mysterious marvels of this great city of the universe." ^ As he had said in the preceding homily, "A 'Homily IV, 4. ■• I V, 5. The four elements and four qualities. Enthusi- asm for nature as God's work. IV, 6. V. 2. Ill, 4. VI, I. 490 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. single plant, a blade of grass is sufficient to occupy all your intelligence in the contemplation of the skill which pro- duced it." ^ He sees "great wisdom in small things." ^ Thus by the argument from design he is apt to work back from nature to the Creator, so that his enthusiasm cannot be regarded as purely scientific. Going a step farther than Galen's argument from design, he contends that "not a single thing has been created without reason; not a single thing is useless." ^ Basil also cherishes the notion, which we have already found both in pagan and Christian writers, that human sin leaves its stain or has its effect upon nature. The rose was without thorns before the fall of man, and their addition to its beauty serves to remind us that "sorrow is very near to pleasure." * Basil discusses the habits of animals largely in order to draw moral lessons from them for human beings and he has several passages in the style supposed to be charac- teristic of the Physiologus. But he also refers in a num- ber of places to the ability of animals to find remedies with which to cure themselves of ailments and injuries, or to their power of divining the future. The sea-urchin fore- tells storms; sheep and goats discern danger by instinct alone. The starling eats hemlock and digests it "before its chill can attack the vital parts"; and the quail is able to feed on hellebore. The wounded bear nurses himself, filling his wounds with mullein, an astringent plant; "the fox heals his wounds with droppings from the pine tree" ; the tortoise counteracts the venom of the vipers it has eaten by means of the herb marjoram; and "the serpent heals sore eyes by eating fennel." ^ Indeed, far from being led by his acquaintance with Greek science into doubting the marvelous, Basil finds "in nature a thousand reasons for believing in the marvelous." ^ He is ready to ascribe astounding powers to animals, and * Homily V, 3. *V, 6. "V, 9. "vii, s;ix. 3. 'V. 4. • VIII, 6. XXI CHRISTIANITY AND NATURAL SCIENCE 491 Spon- taneous genera- tion. believes, like Pliny, that "the greatest vessels, sailing with full sails, are easily stopped by a tiny fish." ^ He tells us that nature endowed the lion with such loud and forceful vocal organs "that often much swifter animals are caught by his roaring alone." ^ He also repeats in charming style the familiar story of the halcyon days. The halcyon lays its eggs along the shore in mid-winter when violent winds dash the waves against the land. Yet winds are hushed and waves are calm during the seven days that the halcyon sits, and then, after its young are hatched and in need of food, "God in his munificence grants another seven days to this tiny animal. All sailors know this and call these days halcyon days." ^ Like most ancient scientists, Basil believes that some ani- mals are spontaneously generated. "Many birds have no need of union with males to conceive," a circumstance which should make it easy for us to believe in the Virgin birth of Christ.^ Grasshoppers and other nameless insects and some- times frogs and mice are "born from the earth itself," and "mud alone produces eels," ^ a theory not much more amaz- ing than the assertion of modern biologists that eels spawn only in the Mediterranean Sea. Basil states that "in the environs of Thebes in Egypt after abundant rain in hot weather the country is covered with field mice," but with- out noting that abundant rain in upper Egypt in hot weather would itself be in the nature of a miracle. Basil is less sceptical than Apollonius of Tyana in regard to the birth of lions and of vipers, repeating iin- questioningly the statement that the viper gnaws its way ticism out of its mother's womb, and that the lioness bears only one whelp because it tears her with its claws. ^ Of purely scien- tific scepticism there is, indeed, little in the Hexaemeron. Basil does, however, question one of the powers ascribed to magicians, and this is his only mention of the magic * Homily VII, 6. 'IX, 3. *VIII, 5. See also Aristotle, History of Animals, V, 8. Lack of scientific scep- * Homily VIII, 6. "IX, 2. IX, s. 492 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. art. Discussing the immense size of the moon and its great influence upon terrestrial nature, he declares ridiculous the old-wives' tales which have been circulated everywhere that magic incantations "can remove the moon from its place and make it descend to the earth." ^ Sun worship still existed in Basil's time and he hails the fact that the sun was not created until the fourth day, after both light and vegetation were in existence, as a severe blow to those who reverence the sun as the source of life.^ However, he does "not pretend to be able to separate light from the body of the sun." ^ Theophilus in his earlier discussion of creation had stated, perhaps copy- ing Philo Judaeus, that the luminaries were not created until the fourth day, "because God, who possesses foreknowledge, knew the follies of the vain philosophers, that they were going to say, that the things which grow on earth are pro- duced from the heavenly bodies" — which is, indeed, a funda- mental hyopthesis of astrology — "so as to exclude God. In order, therefore, that the truth might be obvious, the plants and seeds were produced prior to the heavenly bodies, for what is posterior cannot produce that which is prior." ^ Basil does not make this point against the rule of inferior creation by the heavenly bodies, but in a succeeding homily he feels it necessary to devote several paragraphs ^ to refuta- tion of the "vain science" of casting nativities, which some persons have justified by the words of God concerning sun, moon, and stars in the first chapter of Genesis, "And let them be for signs.'' Basil questions if it be possible to determine the exact instant of birth, declares that to at- tribute to the constellations and signs of the zodiac the characteristics of animals is to subject them to external in- fluences, and defends human free will in much the usual fashion. He is ready, however, to grant that "the variations of the moon do not take place without exerting great influ- ence upon the organization of animals and of all living 'Homily VI, li. * Ad Autolvcum, II, 15. »V, I, ^Homily VI, S-7. •VI, 3. XXI CHRISTIANITY AND NATURAL SCIENCE 493 things," and that the moon makes "all nature participate in her changes." ^ Basil's utterances concerning the world of nature are not always consistent. In describing the creation of vege- tation he asserts that species are unchanging, affirming that "all which sprang from the earth in the first bringing forth is kept the same to our time, thanks to the constant repro- duction of kind." ^ Yet a few paragraphs later we find him saying, "It has been observed that pines, cut down or even submitted to the action of fire, are changed into a forest of oaks." ^ Nevertheless in the last homily he again asserts that "nature, once put in motion by divine command, . . . keeps up the succession of kinds through resemblance to the last. Nature always makes a horse succeed to a horse, a lion to a lion, an eagle to an eagle, and preserving each animal by these uninterrupted successions she transmits it to the end of all things. Animals do not see their peculiari- ties destroyed or effaced by any length of time; their nature, as though it had just been constituted, follows the course of ages forever young." ■* Concerning Basil in conclusion we may say that while he can scarcely be called much of a scientist, he is a pretty good scientist for a preacher. His knowledge of, and errors concerning, the world of nature will probably com- pare quite as well with the science of his day as those of most modern sermons will with the science of our days. His occasional flings at Greek philosophy are probably not to be taken too seriously. But what interests us rather more ' Homily VI, lo. ""V, 2. ' V, 7. But perhaps he simply means that oaks will grow where pines used to. Tertullian, De pallio, cap. 2, dwelling on the law of change, speaks of the washing down of soil from mountains, the alluvial formation by rivers, and of sea-shells on mountain tops as a proof that the whole earth was once covered by water. He seems to have in mind a gradual process of geological evolution rather than Noah's flood, and Sir James Frazer states that Isidore of Seville is the first he knows of the many writers who have ap- pealed "to fossil shells imbedded in remote mountains as witnesses to the truth of the Noachian tra- dition,"— Origines, XIII, 22, cited by J. G. Frazer, Folk-Lore in the Old Testament (1918), I, 159, who cites the passage in Tertullian at PP- 338-9- ' Homily IX, 2. Perma- nence of species. Final im- pression from the Hexaent- eron. 494 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. The Medi- cine Chest of Epipha- nius. than Basil's attitude is that of his audience, curious con- cerning nature. Just as it is evident that many of them go to theaters and circuses, or play with dice, despite Basil's denunciation of the immoral songs of the stage and the evils of gambling; just so, we suspect, it was the attractive morsels of Greek astronomy, botany, and zoology which he offered them that induced them to come and listen further to his argument from design and his moral lessons based upon these natural phenomena. Nor were they likely to observe his censure of incantations and nativities more closely than his condemnation of theater and gaming. It would be rash to infer that they always practiced what he preached. By the same token, even if the church fathers had opposed scientific investigation — and it hardly appears that they did — they would probably have been no more suc- cessful in checking it than they were in checking the com- merce of Constantinople, although "S. Ambrose regards the gains of merchants as for the most part fraudulent, and S. Chrysostom's language has been generally appealed to in a similar sense." ^ The same recognition of an interest In nature on the part of his audience and the same appeal to their scientific curiosity, which we have seen in Basil's sermons, is shown by Epiphanius of Cyprus (315-403) writing in 374-375 A. D.^ He calls his work against heresies the Panarion, or "Medicine Chest," his idea being to provide antidotes and healing herbs in the form of salubrious doctrine against the venom of heretics whose enigmas he compares to the bites of serpents or wild beasts. This metaphor is more or less adhered to throughout the work, and particular heresies are compared to the asp, basilisk, dipsas,^ buprestis,* lizard, dog-fish or shark, mole, centipede, scorpion, and various * Cunningham, Christian Opinion on Usury, p. 9. ' Twice in the course of the Panarion (Dindorf, I, 280, and II, 428; Petavius, 2D and 404A) he gives the year of the reign of Valentinian and Valens. namely, the eleventh and the twelfth. ^ Lucian's De dipsadibus will be recalled; see also Pliny, NH, XXIII, 80; Lucan, Pharsalia, IX, * Pliny, NH, XXIII, 18; XXX, 10. XXI CHRISTIANITY AND NATURAL SCIENCE 495 vipers. We are further told of substances that drive away serpents, such as the herbs dictamnon, abrotonum, and lihanotis, the gum storax,^ and the stone gagates. As his authorities in such matters Epiphanius states that he uses Nicander for the natures of beasts and reptiles, and for roots and plants Dioscorides, Pamphilus, Mithridates the king, Callisthenes and Philo, lolaos the Bithynian, Hera- cleides of Tarentum, and a number of other names. ^ If in his Panarion Epiphanius makes use of ancient Gems in botany, medicine, and zoology for purposes of comparison, pj-^ests in his treatise on the twelve gems in the breastplate of the breast- Hebrew high priest ^ he perhaps gives an excuse and sets the fashion for the Christian medieval Lapidaries. This work was probably composed after the Panarion, and in the opinion of Fogginius even later than 392 A. D.^ This treatise probably was better known in the middle ages than the Paimrion, since the fullest version of it extant is the old Latin one, while the Greek text which has survived seems only a very brief epitome. The Greek version, how- ever, embodies a good deal of what is said concerning the gems themselves and their virtues, but omits entirely the long effort to identify each of the twelve stones with one of the twelve tribes of Israel, which is left unfinished even in the Latin version. Epiphanius shows himself rather chary in regard to such virtues attributed to gems as to calm storms, make men pacific, and confer the power of divination. He does not go so far as to omit them entirely, but he usually qualifies them as the assertion of "those who construct fables" or "those who believe fables." It is with- out any such qualification, however, that he declares that the topaz, ^ when ground on a physician's grindstone, al- though red itself, emits a white milky fluid, and, moreover, * Pliny, NH, XXV, 53; XXI, edition of the Opera of Epipha- 92; XIX, 62; XII, 40 and 55. nius, vol. IV, pp. 141-24S, with ' Dindorf , II, 450; Petavius, the preface and notes of Foggi- 422C. nius, and both the Latin and ^ Liber de XII gemmis ration- Greek versions. alis summi sacerdotis Hebraeo- * Ibid., 160-62. rum, published in Dindorf's " P. 174. 496 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. that as many vessels as one wishes may be filled with this fluid without changing the appearance or shape or lessening the weight of the stone. Skilled physicians also attribute to this liquid a healing effect in eye troubles, in hydrophobia, and in the case of those who have gone mad from eating grape-fish. Some Epiphanius mentions a few other gems than those in the other high priest's breastplate. Among these is the stone hyacinth ^ which, when placed upon live coals, extinguishes them without injury to itself and which is also beneficial to women in childbirth, and drives away phantasms. Cer- tain varieties of it are found in the north among the bar- barous Scythians. The gems lie at the bottom of a deep valley which is inaccessible to men because walled in com- pletely by mountains, and moreover from the summits one cannot see into the valley because of a dark mist which covers it. How men ever became cognizant of the fact that there are gems there may well be wondered but is a point which Epiphanius does not take into consideration. He simply tells us that when men are sent to obtain some of these stones, they skin sheep and hurl the carcasses into the val- ley where some of the gems adhere to the flesh. The odor of the raw meat then attracts the eagles, whose keener sight is perhaps able to penetrate the mist, although Epiphanius does not say so, and they carry the carrion to their nests in the mountains. The men watch where the eagles have taken the meat and go there and find the gems which have been brought out with it. In the middle ages we find this same story in a slightly different form told of Alexander the Great on his expedition to India. Epiphanius has one thing to tell of India himself in connection with gems, which is that a temple of Father Liber (Bacchus) is located there which is said to have three hundred and sixty-five steps, — all of sapphire.^ 'Pp. 190-91. 'Ibid., 184. XXI CHRISTIANITY AND NATURAL SCIENCE 497 The problem of an early Christian work entitled The so- Physiologiis is no easy one, although much has been writ- physiolo- ten concerning: it ^ and more has been taken for granted, f"-^-' vjpb- r 1-1,1 • lem of Its For instance, one often meets such wild and sweepmg state- origin. ment as that "the name Physiologus" was "given to a cyclo- pedia of what was known and imagined about earth, sea, sky, birds, beasts, and fishes, which for a thousand years was the authoritative source of information on these matters and was translated into every European tongue." ^ My later treatment of medieval science will make patent the in- accuracy of such a statement. But to return to the prob- lem of the origin of Physiologus. The original Greek text,^ which some would put back in the first half of the second century of our era, if it ever existed, is now lost, and its previous existence and character are inferred from numerous apparent citations of it, possible extracts from it, and what are taken to be imita- tions, abbreviations, amplifications, adaptations, and trans- lations of it in other languages and of later date. Thus we have versions or fragments in Armenian,* Syriac,^ * Pitra, Spicilegium Solesme'nse, XXXIX (1897), 49-55. J. Strzy- Paris, 185s, III, xlvii-lxxx. K. gowski, D e r Bilderkreis des Ahrens, Zur Geschichte des so- griechischen Physiologus, in Bys. genannten Physiologus, 1885. M. Zeitsch. Erganzungsheft, I (1899). F. Mann, Bestiaire Divin de E. P. Evans, Animal Symbolism in Guillaume Le Clerc. Heilbronn, Ecclesiastical Architecture, 1896, is 1888, pp. 16-33, "Entstehung des disappointing, being mainly com- Physiologus und seine Entwick- piled from secondary sources and lung im Abendlande." F. Lau- having little to say on ecclesias- chert, Geschichte des Physioloaiis, tical architecture. Strassburg, 1889. E. Peters, Der ' EB, nth ed., "Arthropoda." griechische Physiologus und seine ^Lauchert (1889), pp. 229-79, orientalise hen Uehersetzungen, attempts a critical edition of the Berlin, 1898. M. Goldstaub, Der Greek text. Physiologus und seine Weiter- * Pitra (1855), III, 374-90; bildung, besonders in dcr_ latein- French translation in Cahier, ischcn und in der byzantinischen Nouveaux melanges (1874), I, Litteratur, in Philologus, Suppl. 117, ct seq. Bd. yill (1898-1901), 337-404- °0. G. Tychsen, Physiologies Also in Verhandl. d. 41 Ver- Syrus, 1795; from an incomplete sammlung deutscher Philologen Vatican AIS. Land, Otia Syriaca, u. _ Schulmdnner in MUnchen, p. 31, et seq., or in Anecdota Leipzig (1892), pp. 212-21. V. Syriaca, IW , lis, et seq., g\vts tha Schultze, Der Physiologus in der complete text with a Latin trans- kirchlichen Kunst des Mittelal- lation. ters, in Christliches Kunstblatt, 498 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap. Ethiopian/ and Arabic ; ^ a Greek text from medieval manu- scripts, mostly of late date ; ^ various Latin versions in numerous manuscripts from the eighth century on ; * in Old High German a prose translation of about looo A. D. and a poetical version later in the same language ; ^ and Bestiaries such as those of Philip of Thaon ^ and William ^ Hommel, Die aethiopische Uebersetzung des Physiologus, Leipzig, 1877. A bit of it was translated by Pitra (1855), III, 416-7. * Land, Otia Syriaca, p. 137, et seq., with Latin translation. A fragment in Pitra (1855), III, 535. ^ Pitra (1855), HI, 3Z^-72„ used MSS from the 13th to 15th cen- tury. The earliest known illu- minated copies are of iioo A. D. and later : see Dalton, Byzantine Art and Archaeology, Oxford, 191 1, pp. 481-2. *The oldest Latin MSS seem to be two of the 8th and 9th cen- turies at Berne. Edited by Mai, Classici auctores, Rome, 1835, VII, 585-96, and more completely by Pitra (1855), III, 418; also by G. Heider, in Archiv f. Kunde osterreich. Geschichtsquel- len, Vienna, 1850, II, 545 ; Cahier et Martin, Melanges d'archeologie, Paris, II (1851), 85fif., Ill (1853), 203ff., IV (1856), 55fif. Cahier, Nouveaux melanges (1874), p, io6ff. Mann (1888), pp. 37-73, prints the Latin text which he regards as William le Clerc's source from Royal 2-C-XII, and gives a list of other MSS of Latin Bestiaries in English libraries. Other medieval Latin Bestiaries have been printed in the works of Hildebert of Tours or Le Mans (Migne, PL, 171, 1217-24: really this poem concerning only twelve animals is by Theobald, who was perhaps abbot at Monte Cassino, 1022-T035, and it was printed under the name of Theobald be- fore 1500, — see the volume num- bered lA. 12367 in the British Museum and entitled, Phisiologus Theobaldi Episcopi de natiiris duodecim animalium. Indeed, it was printed at least nine times under his name, — see Hain, 15467-75) : and in the works of Hugh of St. Victor (Migne, PL, ''^77, 9-164, De bestiis et aliis rebus libri quatuor). Both of these versions occur in numerous MSS, as does a third version which opens with citation of the remark of Jacob in blessing his sons, "Judah is a lion's whelp." The author then cites Physiologus as usual concerning the three natures of the lion. See Wolfenbiittel 4435, nth century, fols. 159-68V, Liber bestiarum. "De leone rege bestiarum et animalium (est) etenim iacob benedicens iudam ait Catulus leonis iuda. De leone. Leo tres naturas habet." Laud. Misc. 247, I2th century, fol. 140-, . . . caps. 36, praevia tabula . . . Tit. "De tribus naturis leonis." Incip. "Bestiarium seu animalium regis ; etenim Jacob benedicens filium suum Udam ait Catulus leonis Judas filius meus quis suscitabit eum ; Fisiolo- gus dicit, Tres res naturales habere leonem. . . ." Library of Dukes of Burgundy 10074, loth century, "Etenim Jacob benedi- cens." CLM 19648, 15th century, fols. 180-95, "Igitur Jacob bene- dicens." CLM 237S7, 15th cen- tury, fols. 12-20, "Igitur Jacob benedicens." CU Trinity 884, 13th century in a fine hand, with 107 English miniatures, fol. 89-, "Et enim iacob benedicens filium suum iudam ait catulus leonis est iudas filius meus"; this MS ends imperfectly. ''Printed by Lauchert (1889), pp. 280-90. * Max F. Mann, Der Physiolo- gus des Philipp von Thaon und seine Quellen, Halle, 1884, 53 pp. XXI CHRISTIANITY AND NATURAL SCIENCE 499 the Clerk ^ in the Romance languages ^ and other vernacu- lars.^ The Physiologus has been thought to have originated in Alexandria because of its use of the Egyptian names for the months and because Clement of Alexandria and Origen are supposed to have made use of it. But it is difficult to determine whether the church fathers drew passages con- cerning animals and nature from some such work or whether it was a collection of passages from their writings upon such themes. Ahrens, who thought he found the original form of the work in a Syriac Book of the Things of Nature,"^ regarded Origen as its author. In a medical manuscript at Vienna is a Physiologus in Greek ascribed to Epiphanius of Cyprus,^ of whom we have just been treating, while we hear that Pope Gelasius at a synod of 496 condemned as apocryphal a Physiologus which was written by heretics and ascribed to Ambrose,® who so closely duplicated the Hexaemeron of Basil. A work on the natures of animals is also attributed to John Chrysostom.'^ I am not sure whether * Mann, Bestiaire Divin de Guillaume Le Clerc, Heilbronn, 1888, in Fransosische Studien, VI, 2, pp. 201-306. Most recent edition by Robert, Leipzig, 1890. ' Besides the two foregoing see Goldstaub und Wendriner, Ein tosco-venes. Bestiarius, Halle, 1892, Magliabech. IV, 63, 13th century, mutilated, 53 fols., bestiario mo- ralizato, in Italian prose. E. Monaci, Rendiconti dell' Accad. dei Lincei, Class e di scien::e morali, storiche e filol, vol. V, fasc. 10 and 12, has edited a Bestiario in 64 sonetti on as many animals from a private MS at "Gubbio neir archivio degli avvo- cati Pietro e Oderisi Lucarelli," MS 25, fols. 112-27. See also M. Carver and K. McKenzie, // Bes- tiario Toscano secondo la lesione dei codice di Parigi e di Roma, in Studi romansi, Rome, 1912; Mc- Kenzie, Unpublished Manuscripts of Italian Bestiaries, in Modern La'nguage Publications, XX (1905), 2; and Carver, "Some Supplementary Italian Bestiary Chapters," in Romanic Review, XI (1920), 308-27. ^ For instance, A. S. Cook, The Old English Elene, Phoenix, and Physiologus, Yale University Press, 364 pp., 1919. * K. Ahrens, Das "Buch der Naturgegenstdnde," 1892. * Cod. Vind. Med. 29, tov ayiov 'Kin4>avlov eTrLaKoirov lK.virpov irepl ttjs Xe^ecos Trdfrcof to3v fcowc