FOOTNOTES
[1] τὰ μυστικά.
[2] Αἰγυπτίων δόγματα ... ὡς ἄρρητα διδαχθείς.
[3] M. Adhémar d’Alès in his work La Théologie de St. Hippolyte, Paris, 1906, argues that the existing text of Book IV contains large fragments of the missing Books II and III. His argument is chiefly founded on the supposed excessive length of Book IV, although as a fact Book V is in Cruice’s pagination some 20 pages longer than this and Book VI, 10. Apart from this, it seems very doubtful if any author would describe the arithmomantic and arithmetical nonsense in Book IV as either μυστικά or δόγματα ἄρρητα, and it is certain that he cannot be alluding, when he speaks of the Βαβυλωνίων ἀλογίστῳ μανίᾳ δι’ ἐν(εργί)ας δαιμόνων καταπλαγείς, to the jugglery in the same book, which he there attributes not to the agency of demons but to the tricks of charlatans.
BOOK IV
DIVINERS AND MAGICIANS
(The first pages of this book have been torn away from the MS., and we are therefore deprived of the small Table of Contents which the author has prefixed to the other seven. From the headings of the various chapters it may be reproduced in substance thus:—
1. The “Chaldæans” or Astrologers, and the celestial measurements of the Greek astronomers.
2. The Mathematicians or those who profess to divine by the numerical equivalents of the letters in proper names.
3. The Metoposcopists or those who connect the form of the body and the disposition of the mind with the Zodiacal sign rising at birth.
4. The Magicians and the tricks by which they read sealed letters, perform divinations, produce apparitions of gods and demons, and work other wonders.
5. Recapitulation of the ideas of Greek and Barbarian on the nature of God, and the views of the “Egyptians” or neo-Pythagoreans as to the mysteries of number.
6. The star-diviners or those who find religious meaning in the grouping of the constellations as described by Aratus.
7. The Pythagorean doctrine of number and its relation to the heresies of Simon Magus and Valentinus.)
p. 53.
[1. About Astrologers.[1]]
... (And they (i. e. the Chaldæans) declare there are “terms”[2] of the stars in each zodiacal sign extending from one given part)[3] to [another given part in which some particular star has most power. About which there is no mere chance difference] among them [as appears from their tables]. But they say that the stars are guarded[4] [when they are midway between two other stars] in zodiacal succession. For instance, if [5] and behold one another which have an interval of three zodiacal signs between them and a square those which have one of two signs....
([6]Such then seems to be the character of the Chaldæan method. And in that which has been handed down it remains easy to understand and follow the contradictions noted. And some indeed try to teach a rougher way as if earthly things have no sympathy[7] at all with the heavenly ones. For thus they say, that the ambient[8] is not united as is the human body, so that according to the condition) of the head the lower parts [suffer with it and the head with the lower] parts, and earthly things should suffer along with those above the moon. But there is a certain difference and want of sympathy between them as they have not one and [the] same unity.
2. Making use of these statements, Euphrates the Peratic and Akembes the Carystian[9] and the rest of the band of these people, miscalling the word of Truth, declare that there is a war of æons and a falling-away of good powers to the bad, calling them Toparchs and Proastii[10] and many other names. All which heresy undertaken by them, I shall set forth and refute when we come to the discussion concerning them. But now, lest any one should deem trustworthy and unfailing the rules laid down[11] by the Chaldæans p. 55. for the astrological art, we shall not shrink from briefly setting forth their refutation and pointing out that their art is vain and rather deceives and destroys the soul which may hope for vain things than helps it. In which matters we do not hold out any expertness in the art, but only that drawn from knowledge of the practical words.[12] Those who, having been trained in this science, become pupils of the Chaldæans and who having changed the names only, have imparted mysteries as if they were strange and wonderful to men, have constructed a heresy out of this. But since they consider the astrologers’ art a mighty one and making use of the witness of the Chaldæans wish to get their own systems believed because of them, we shall now prove that the astrological art as it appears to-day is unfounded, and then that the Peratic heresy is to be put aside as a branch growing from a root which does not hold.[13]
3.[14] Now the beginning and as it were the basis of the affair is the establishment of the horoscope. From this the rest of the cardinal points, and the cadents and succeedents and the trines and the squares[15] and the configuration of the stars in them are known, from all which things the predictions p. 56. are made. Wherefore if the horoscope be taken away, of necessity neither the midheaven nor the descendant nor the anti-meridian is known. But the whole Chaldaic system vanishes if these are not disclosed. [And how the zodiacal sign ascending is to be discovered is taught in divers ways. For in order that this may be apprehended, it is necessary first of all that the birth of the child falling under consideration be carefully taken, and secondly that the signalling of the time[16] be unerring, and thirdly that the rising in the heaven of the ascending sign be observed with the greatest care. For at the birth[17] the rising of the sign ascending in the heaven must be closely watched, since the Chaldæans determining that which ascends, on its rising make that disposition of the stars which they call the Theme,[18] from which they declare their predictions. But neither is it possible to take the birth of those falling under consideration, as I shall show, nor is the time established p. 57. unerringly, nor is the ascending sign ascertained with care. How baseless the system of the Chaldæans is, we will now say. It is necessary before determining the birth of those falling under consideration, to inquire whether they take it from the deposition of the seed and its conception or from the bringing forth. And if we should attempt to take it from the conception, the accurate account of this is hard to grasp, the time being short and naturally so. For we cannot say whether conception takes place simultaneously with the transfer of the seed or not. For this may happen as quick as thought, as the tallow put into heated pots sticks fast at once, or it may take place after some time.[19] For there being a distance from the mouth of the womb to the other extremity, where conceptions are said by doctors to take place, it is natural that nature depositing the seed should take some time to accomplish this distance. Therefore the Chaldæans being ignorant of the exact length of time will never discover exactly the time of conception, the seed being sometimes p. 58. shot straight forward and falling in those places of the womb fitted by nature for conception, and sometimes falling broadcast to be only brought into place by the power of the womb itself. And it cannot be known when the first of these things happens and when the second, nor how much time is spent in one sort of conception and how much in the other. But if we are ignorant of these things, the accurate discovery of the nature of the conception vanishes.[20] Nor if, as some physiologists say, seed being first seethed and altered in the womb then goes forward to its gaping vessels as the seeds of the earth go to the earth; why then, those who do not know the length of time taken by this change will not know either the moment of conception. And again, as women differ from one another in energy and other causes of action in other parts of the body, so do they differ in the energy of the womb, some conceiving quicker and others slower. And this is not unexpected, since if we compare them, they are seen now to be good conceivers and now not at all so. This being so, it is impossible to say with exactness when the seed deposited is secured, so that from this time the Chaldæans may establish the horoscope[21] of the birth.
p. 59.
4. For this reason it is impossible to establish the horoscope from the conception; nor can it be done from the bringing forth. For in the first place, it is very hard to say when the bringing forth is: whether it is when the child begins to incline towards the fresh air or when it projects a little, or when it is brought down altogether to the ground. But in none of these cases is it possible to define the time of birth accurately.[22] For from presence of mind and suitableness of body, and through preference of places and the expertness of the midwife and endless other causes, the time is not always the same when, the membranes being ruptured, the infant inclines forward, or when p. 60. it projects a little, or when it falls to the ground. But it is different with different women. Which, again, the Chaldæans being unable to measure definitely and accurately, they are prevented from determining as they should the hour of the bringing forth.
That the Chaldæans, therefore, while asserting that they know the sign ascending at the time of birth, do not know it, is plain from the facts. And that there is no means either of unerringly observing the time,[23] is easy to be judged. For when they say that the person sitting by the woman in labour at the bringing forth signifies the same to the Chaldæan who is looking upon the stars from a high place by means of the gong,[24] and that this last gazing upon the heaven notes down the sign then rising, we shall show that as the bringing forth happens at no defined time,[25] it is not possible either to signify the same by the gong. For even if it be granted that the actual bringing forth can be ascertained, yet the time cannot be signified accurately. For the sound of the gong, being capable of divisions by perception into much and more time,[26] it happens that it is p. 61. carried (late) to the high place. And the proof of this is what is noticed when trees are felled a long way off.[27] For the sound of the stroke is heard a pretty long time after the fall of the axe, so as to reach the listener later. And from this cause it is impossible for the Chaldæans to obtain accurately the time of the rising sign and that which is in truth on the ascendant.[28] And indeed not only does more time pass after the birth before he who sits beside the woman in labour, strikes the gong, and again after the stroke before it is heard by him upon the high place, but also before he can look about and see in which sign is the moon and in which is each of the other stars. It seems inevitable then that there must be a great change in the disposition of the stars,[29] [from the movement of the Pole being whirled along with indescribable swiftness] before the hour of him who has been born as it is seen in heaven can be observed carefully.[30]
p. 62.
5. Thus the art according to the Chaldæans has been shown to be baseless. But if any one should fancy that by enquiries, the geniture[31] of the enquirer is to be learned, we may know that not in this way either can it be arrived at with certainty. For if such great care in the practice of the art is necessary, and yet as we have shown they do not arrive at accuracy, how can an unskilled person take accurately the time of birth, so that the Chaldæan on learning it may set up the horoscope truthfully?[32] But neither by inspection of the horizon will the star ascending appear the same everywhere, but sometimes the cadent sign will be considered the ascendant and sometimes the succeedent, according as the coming in view of the places is higher or lower. So that in this respect the prediction will not appear accurate, many people being born all over the world at the same hour, while every observer will see the stars differently.
But vain also is the customary taking of the time by water-jars.[33] For the pierced jar will not give the same flow when full as when nearly empty, while according to p. 63. the theory of these people the Pole itself is borne along in one impulse with equal speed. But if they answer to this that they do not take the time accurately but as it chances in common use,[34] they will be refuted merely by the starry influences themselves.[35] For those who have been born at the same time have not lived the same life; but some for example have reigned as kings while others have grown old in chains. None at any rate of the many throughout the inhabited world at the same time as Alexander of Macedon were like unto him, and none to Plato the philosopher. So that if the Chaldæan observes carefully the time in common use, he will not be able to say[36] if he who is born at that time will be fortunate. For many at any rate born at that time, will be unfortunate, so that the likeness between the genitures is vain.
Having therefore refuted in so many different ways the vain speculation of the Chaldæans, we shall not omit this, that their prognostications lead to impossibility. For if he who is born under the point of Sagittarius’ arrow must be slain, as the astrologers[37] say, how was it that so many p. 64. barbarians who fought against the Greeks at Marathon or Salamis were killed at the same time? For there was not at any rate the same horoscope for all. And again, if he who is born under the urn of Aquarius will be shipwrecked, how was it that some of the Greeks returning from Troy were sunk together in the furrows of the Eubœan sea? For it is incredible that all these differing much from one another in age should all have been born under Aquarius’ urn. For it cannot be said often that because of one who was destined to perish by sea, all those in the ship should be destroyed along with him. For why should the destiny of this one prevail over that of all, and yet that not all should be saved because of one who was destined to die on land?
6. But since also they make a theory about the influence of the zodiacal signs to which they say the things brought forth are likened, we shall not omit this. For example, they say that he who is born under Leo will be courageous,[38] and he who is born under Virgo straight-haired, pale-complexioned, p. 65. childless and bashful. But these things and those like them deserve laughter rather than serious consideration.[39] For according to them an Ethiopian can be born under Virgo, and if so they allow he will be white, straight-haired and the rest. But I imagine that the ancients gave the names of the lower animals to the stars rather because of arbitrariness[40] than from natural likeness of shape. For what likeness to a bear have the seven stars which stand separate from one another? Or to the head of a dragon those five of which Aratus says:—
Two hold the temples, two the eyes, and one beneath
Marks the chin point of the monster dread.—
(Aratus, Phainomena, vv. 56, 57.)
7. That these things are not worthy of so much labour is thus proved to the right-thinkers aforesaid, and to those who give no heed to the inflated talk of the Chaldæans, who with assurance of indemnity make kings to disappear p. 66. and incite private persons to dare great deeds.[41] But if he who has given way to evil fails, he who has been deceived does not become a teacher to all whose minds the Chaldæans wish to lead endlessly astray by their failures. For they constrain the minds of their pupils when they say that the same configuration of the stars cannot occur otherwise than by the return of the Great Year in 7777 years.[42] How then can human observation agree[43] in so many ages upon one geniture? And this not once but many times, since the destruction of the cosmos as some say will interrupt the observation, or its gradual transformation will cause to disappear entirely the continuity of historical tradition.[44]] The Chaldaic art must be refuted by more arguments, although we have been recalling it to memory on account of other matters and not for its own sake. But since we have before said that we will omit none of the opinions current among the Gentiles,[45] by reason of the many-voiced craft of the heresies, let us see what they say also who have p. 67. dared to speculate about magnitudes. Who, recognizing the variety of the work of most of them, when another has been utterly deceived in a different manner and has been yet held in high esteem, have dared to say something yet more grandiose than he, so that they may be yet more glorified by those who have already glorified their petty frauds. These men postulate circles and triangular and square measures doubly and triply.[46] There is much theory about this, but it is not necessary for what lies before us.
8. I reckon it enough therefore to declare the marvels described by them. Wherefore I shall employ their epitomes,[47] as they call them, and then turn to other things. They say this:[48] he who fashioned the universe, gave rule to the revolution of the Same and Like, for that alone he left undivided; but the inner motion he divided 6 times and made 7 unequal circles divided by intervals in ratios of 2 and 3, 3 of each, and bade the circles revolve in directions opposite to one another—3 of them to revolve at equal pace, and 4 with a velocity unlike that of the 3, but in p. 68. due proportion.[49] And he says that rule was given to the orbit of the 7, not only because it embraces the orbit of the Other, i. e., the Wanderers; but because it has so much rule, i. e., so much power, that it carries along with it the Wanderers to the opposite positions, bearing them from West to East and from East to West by its own strength. And he says that the same orbit was allowed to be one and undivided, first because the orbits of all the fixed stars are equal in time and not divided into greater and lesser times.[50] And next because they all have the same appearance,[51] which is that of the outermost orbit, while the Wanderers are divided into more and different kinds of movements and into unequal distances from the Earth. And he says that the Other orbit has been cut in 6 places into 7 circles according to ratio.[52] For as many cuts as there are of each, so many segments are there plus a monad. For example if one cut be made,[53] there are 2 segments; if 2 cuts, 3 segments; and so, if a thing be cut 6 times there p. 69. will be 7 segments. And he says that the intervals between them are arranged alternately in ratios of 2 and 3, 3 of each, which he has proved with regard to the constitution of the soul also, as to the 7 numbers. For 3 among them, viz., 2, 4, 8, are doubles from the monad onwards and 3 of them, viz., 3, 9, 27 [triples][54].... But the diameter of the Earth is 80,008 stadia and its perimeter 250,543.[55] And the distance from the Earth’s surface to the circle of the Moon, Aristarchus of Samos writes as ...[56] stadia but Apollonius as 5,000,000 and Archimedes as 5,544,130. And Archimedes says that from the Moon’s circle to that of the Sun is 50,262,065 stadia; from this to the circle of Aphrodite 20,272,065; and from this to the circle of Hermes 50,817,165; and from the same to the circle of p. 70. the Fiery One[57] 40,541,108; and from this to the circle of Zeus 20,275,065; but from this to the circle of Kronos, 40,372,065; and from this to the Zodiac and the last periphery 20,082,005 stadia.
9. The differences from one another of the circles and the spheres in height are also given by Archimedes. He takes the perimeter of the Zodiac at 447,310,000 stadia, so that a straight line from the centre of the Earth to its extreme surface is the sixth part of the said number, and from the surface of the Earth on which we walk to the Zodiac is exactly one-sixth of the said number less 40,000 stadia which is the distance from the centre of the Earth to its surface. And from the circle of Kronos to the Earth, he says, the interval is 2,226,912,711 stadia; and from the p. 71. circle of the Fiery One to the Earth, 132,418,581; and from the Sun to the Earth, 121,604,454; from the Shining One to the Earth, 526,882,259; and from Aphrodite to the Earth, 50,815,160.[58]
10. And about the Moon we have before spoken. The distances and depths[59] of the spheres are thus given by Archimedes, but Hipparchus speaks differently about them, and Apollonius the mathematician differently again. But it is enough for us in following the Platonic theory to think of the intervals between the Wanderers as in ratios of 2 and 3. For thus is kept alive the theory of the harmonious construction of the universe in accordant ratios[60] by the same distances. But the numbers set out by Archimedes and the ratios quoted by the others concerning the distances, if they are not in accordant ratios, that is in those called by p. 72. Plato twofold and threefold, but are found to be outside the chords,[61] would not keep alive the theory of the harmonious construction of the universe. For it is neither probable nor possible that their distances should have no ratio to one another, that is, should be outside the chords and enharmonic scales. Except perhaps the Moon alone, from her waning and the shadows of the Earth, as to which planet alone you may trust Archimedes, that is to say for the distance of the Moon from the Earth. And it will be easy for those who accept this calculation to ascertain the number and the other distances according to the Platonic method by doubling and tripling as Plato demands.[62] If then, according to Archimedes, the Moon is distant from the Earth 5,544,130 stadia, it will be easy by increasing these numbers in ratios of 2 and 3 to find her distance from the rest by taking one fraction of the number of stadia by which the Moon is distant from the Earth.
But since the rest of the numbers stated by Archimedes about the distance of the Wanderers are not in accordant ratios, it is easy to know how they stand in regard to one p. 73. another and in what ratios they have been observed to be. But that the same are not in harmony and accord[63] when they are parts of the cosmos established by harmony is impossible. So then, as the first number (of stadia) by which the Moon is distant from the Earth is 5,544,130, the second number by which the Sun is distant from the Moon being 50,262,065, it is in ratio more than ninefold; and the number of the interval above this being 20,272,065 is in ratio less than one-half. And the number of the interval above this being 50,815,108 is in ratio more than twofold. And the number of the interval above this being 40,541,108 is in ratio more than one and a quarter.[64] And the number of the interval above this being 20,275,065 is in ratio more than half. And the number of the highest interval above this being 40,372,065 is in ratio less than twofold.[65]
11. These same ratios indeed—the more than ninefold, p. 74. less than half, more than twofold, less than one and a quarter, more than half, less than half and less than twofold are outside all harmonies and from them no enharmonic nor accordant system can come to pass. But the whole cosmos and its parts throughout are put together in an enharmonic and accordant manner. But the enharmonic and accordant ratios are kept alive as we have said before by the twofold and threefold intervals. If then we deem Archimedes worthy of faith on the distance given above, i. e., that from the Moon to the Earth, it is easy to find the rest by increasing it in the ratios of 2 and 3. Let the distance from the Earth to the Moon be, according to Archimedes, 5,544,130 stadia. The double of this will be the number of stadia by which the Sun is distant from the Moon, viz., 11,088,260. But from the Earth the Sun is distant 16,632,390 stadia and Aphrodite indeed from the Sun—16,632,390 stadia, but from the Earth 33,264,780. Ares indeed is distant from Aphrodite 22,176,520 stadia but from the Earth 105,338,470. But Zeus is distant from Ares 44,353,040 stadia, but from p. 75 the Earth 149,691,510. Kronos is distant from Zeus 40,691,510 stadia, but from the Earth 293,383,020.[66]
12. Who will not wonder at so much activity of mind produced by so great labour? It seems that this Ptolemy[67] who busies himself with these matters is not without his use to me. This only grieves me that as one but lately born he was not serviceable to the sons of the giants,[68] who, being ignorant of these measurements, thought they were near high heaven and began to make a useless tower. Had he been at hand to explain these measurements to them they would not have ventured on the foolishness. But if any one thinks he can disbelieve this let him take the measurements and be convinced; for one cannot have for the unbelieving a more manifold proof than this. O puffing-up of vainly-toiling soul and unbelieving belief, when Ptolemy is considered wise in everything by those trained in the like wisdom![69]
13. Certain men in part intent on these things as judging p. 76. them mighty and worthy of argument have constructed measureless[70] and boundless heresies. Among whom is one Colarbasus,[71] who undertakes to set forth religion by measures and numbers. And there are others whom we shall likewise point out when we begin to speak of those who give heed to Pythagorean reckoning as if it were powerful and neglect the true philosophy for numbers and elements, thus making vain divinations. Collecting whose words, certain men have led astray the uneducated, pretending to know the future and when they chance to divine one thing aright are not ashamed of their many failures, but make a boast of their one success. Nor shall I pass over their unwise wisdom, but when I have set forth their attempts to establish a religion from these sources, I shall refute them as being disciples of a school inconsistent and full of trickery.
2. Of Mathematicians.[72]
p. 77.
Those then who fancy that they can divine by means of ciphers[73] and numbers, elements[74] and names, make the foundation of their attempted system to be this. They pretend that every number has a root:—in the thousands as many units as there are thousands. For example, the root of 6000 is 6 units, of 7000, 7 units, of 8000, 8 units, and with the rest in the same way. In the hundreds as many hundreds as there are, so the same number of units is the root of them. For example, in 700 there are 7 hundreds: 7 units is their root. In 600 there are 6 hundreds: 6 units is their root. In the same way in the decads: of 80 the root is 8 units, of 40, 4 units, of 10, 1 unit. In the units, the units themselves are the root; for instance, the unit of the 9 is 9, of the 8, 8, of the 7, 7. Thus then must we do with the component parts [of names]. For each element is arranged according to some number. For example, the Nu consists of 50 units; but of 50 units the root is 5, and of the letter p. 78. Nu the root is 5. Let it be granted that from the name we may take certain[75] of its roots. For example, from the name Agamemnon there comes from the Alpha one unit, from the Gamma 3 units, from the other Alpha 1 unit, from the Mu 4 units, from the Epsilon 5 units, from the Mu 4 units, from the Nu 5 units, from the Omega 8 units, from the Nu 5 units, which together in one row will be 1, 3, 1, 4, 5, 4, 5, 8, 5. These added together make 36 units. Again they take the roots of these and they become 3 for the 30, but 6 itself for the 6. Then the 3 and the 6 added together make 9, but the root of 9 is 9. Therefore the name Agamemnon ends in the root 9.
Let the same be done with another name, viz., Hector. The name Hector contains five elements, Epsilon, Kappa, Tau, Omega and Rho.[76] The roots of these are 5, 2, 3, 8, 1; these added together make 19 units. Again, the root of the 10 is 1, of the 9, 9, which added together make 10. The root of the 10 is one unit. Therefore the name of Hector when counted up[77] has made as its root one unit.
p. 79.
But it is easier to work this way. Divide by 9 the roots ascertained from the elements, as we have just found 19 units from the name Hector, and read the remaining root. For example, if I divide the 19 by 9, there remains a unit, for twice 9 is 18, and the remainder is a unit. For if I subtract 18 from the 19, the remainder is a unit. Again, of the name Patroclus[78] these numbers 8, 1, 3, 1, 7, 2, 3, 7, 2 are the roots; added together they make 34 units. The remainder of these units is 7, viz., 3 from the 30 and 4 from the 4. Therefore 7 units are the root of the name Patroclus. Those then who reckon by the rule of 9 take the 9th part of the number collected from the roots and describe the remainder as the sum of the roots; but those who reckon by the rule of 7 take the 7th part. For example, in the name Patroclus the aggregate of the roots is 34 units. This divided into sevens makes 4 sevens, which are 28; the p. 80. remainder is 6 units. He says that by the rule of 7, 6 is the root of the name Patroclus.[79] If, however, it be 43, the 7th part, he says, is 42, for 7 times 6 is 42, and the remainder is 1. Therefore the root from the 43 by the rule of 7 becomes a unit. But we must take notice of what happens if the given number when divided has no remainder,[80] as for example, if from one name, after adding together the roots, I find, e. g., 36 units. But 36 divided by 9 is exactly 4 enneads (for 9 times 4 is 36 and nothing over). Thus, he says the 9 itself is plainly the root. If again we divide the number 45 we find 9 and no remainder (for 9 times 5 is 45 and nothing over), in such cases we say the root is 9. And in the same way with the rule of 7: if, e. g., we divide 28 by 7 we shall have nothing over (for 7 times 4 is 28 and nothing left), [and] they say the root is 7. Yet when he reckons up the names and finds the same letter twice, he counts it only once. For example, the name p. 81. Patroclus has the Alpha twice and the Omicron twice,[81] therefore he counts the Alpha only once and the Omicron only once. According to this, then, the roots will be 8, 3, 1, 7, 2, 3, 2, and added together make 27,[82] and the root of the name by the rule of 9 will be the 9 itself and by that of 7, 6.
In the same way Sarpedon, when counted, makes by the rule of 9, 2 units; but Patroclus makes 9: Patroclus conquers. For when one number is odd and the other even, the odd conquers if it be the greater. But again if there were an 8, which is even, and a 5, which is odd, the 8 conquers, for it is greater. But if there are two numbers, for example, both even or both odd, the lesser conquers. But how does Sarpedon by the rule of 9 make 2 units? The element Omega is omitted; for when there are in a name the elements Omega and Eta, they omit the Omega p. 82. and use one element. For they say that they both have the same power, but are not to be counted twice, as has been said above. Again, Ajax (Αἴας)[83] makes 4 units, and Hector by the rule of 9 only one. But the 4 is even while the unit is odd. And since we have said that in such cases the greater conquers, Ajax is the victor. Take again Alexandros[84] and Menelaus. Alexandros has an individual[85] name [Paris]. The name Paris makes by the rule of 9, 4; Menelaus by the same rule 9, and the 9 conquers the 4. For it has been said that when one is odd and the other even, the greater conquers, but when both are even or both odd, the lesser. Take again Amycus and Polydeuces. Amycus makes by the rule of 9, 2 units, and Polydeuces 7: Polydeuces conquers. Ajax and Odysseus contended together in the funereal games. Ajax makes by the rule of 9, 4 units, and Odysseus by the same rule 8.[86] Is there not (here) then some epithet of Odysseus and not his individual name, for he conquered? According to the numbers Ajax conquers, but tradition says Odysseus. Or take again Achilles and Hector. Achilles by the rule of 9 makes 4; p. 83. Hector 1; Achilles conquers. Take again Achilles and Asteropæus. Achilles makes 4, Asteropæus 3;[87] Achilles conquers. Take again Euphorbus and Menelaus. Menelaus has 9 units, Euphorbus 8; Menelaus conquers.
But some say that by the rule of 7, they use only the vowels, and others that they put the vowels, semi-vowels and consonants by themselves, and interpret each column separately. But yet others do not use the usual numbers, but different ones. Thus, for example, they will not have Pi to have as a root 8 units, but 5 and the element Xi as a root 4 units; and turning about every way, they discover nothing sane. When, however, certain competitors contend a second time,[88] they take away the first element, and when a third, the two first elements of each, and counting up the rest, they interpret them.
p. 84.2. I should think that the design of the arithmeticians has been plainly set forth, who deem that by numbers and names they can judge life. And I notice that, as they have time to spare and have been trained in counting, they have wished by means of the art handed down to them by children to proclaim themselves well-approved diviners, and, measuring the letters topsy-turvy, have strayed into nonsense. For when they fail to hit the mark, they say in propounding the difficulty that the name in question is not a family name but an epithet; as also they plead as a subterfuge in the case of Ajax and Odysseus. Who that founds his tenets on this wonderful philosophy and wishes to be called heresiarch, will not be glorified?
3. Of Divination by Metoposcopy.[89]
1. But since there is another and more profound art among the all-wise investigators of the Greeks, whose disciples the heretics profess themselves because of the use they make of their opinions for their own designs, as we shall show before long, we shall not keep silence about this. This is the divination or rather madness by metoposcopy. p. 85. There are those who refer to the stars the forms of the types and patterns[90] and natures of men, summing them up by their births under certain stars. This is what they say: Those born under Aries will be like this, to wit, long-headed, red-haired, with eyebrows joined together, narrow forehead, sea-green eyes, hanging cheeks, long nose, expanded nostrils, thin lips, pointed chin, and wide mouth. They will partake, he says, of such a disposition as this: forethinking, versatile, cowardly, provident, easy-going, gentle, inquisitive, concealing their desires, equipped for everything, ruling more by judgment than by strength, laughing at the present, skilled writers, faithful, lovers of strife, provoking to controversy, given to desire, lovers of boys, understanding, turning from their own homes, displeased p. 86. with everything, litigious, madmen in their cups, contemptuous, casting away somewhat every year, useful in friendship by their goodness. Most often they die in a foreign land.[91]
2. Those born under Taurus will be of this type: round-headed, coarse-haired, with broad forehead, oblong eyes and great eyebrows if dark; if fair, thin veins, sanguine complexion, large and heavy eyelids, great ears, round mouth, thick nose, widely-open nostrils, thick lips. They are strong in their upper limbs, but are sluggish from the hips downwards from their birth. The same are of a disposition pleasing, understanding, naturally clever, religious, just, rustical, agreeable, laborious[92] after twelve years old, easily irritated, leisurely. Their appetite is small, they are quickly satisfied, wishing for many things, provident, thrifty towards themselves, liberal towards others; as a class they are sorrowful, useless in friendship, useful because of their minds, enduring ills.
p. 87.3. The type of these under Gemini: red-faced, not too tall in stature, even-limbed, eyes black and beady,[93] cheeks drawn downwards, coarse mouth, eyebrows joined together. They rule all that they have, are rich at the last, niggardly, thrifty of their own, profuse in the affairs of Venus, reasonable, musical, cheats. The same are said (by other writers) to be of this disposition: learned, understanding, inquisitive, self-assertive, given to desire, thrifty with their own, liberal, gentle, prudent, crafty, wishing for many things, calculators, litigious, untimely, not lucky. They are beloved by women, are traders, but not very useful in friendship.
p. 88.4. The type of those under Cancer: not great in stature, blue-black hair, reddish complexion, small mouth, round head, narrow forehead, greenish eyes, sufficiently beautiful, limbs slightly irregular. Their disposition: evil, crafty, skilled in plots, insatiable, thrifty, ungraced, servile, unhelpful, forgetful. They neither give back what is another’s nor demand back their own; useful in friendship.
5. The type of those under Leo: round head, reddish hair, large wrinkled forehead, thick ears, stiff-necked, partly bald, fiery complexion, green-gray eyes, large jaws, coarse mouth, heavy upper limbs, great breast, lower parts small. Their disposition is: self-assertive, immoderate, self-pleasers, wrathful, courageous, scornful, arrogant, never deliberating, no talkers, indolent, addicted to custom, given up to the things of Venus, fornicators, shameless, wanting in faith, importunate for favour, audacious, niggardly, rapacious, celebrated, helpful to the community, useless in friendship.
p. 89.6. The type of those under Virgo: with fair countenance, eyes not great but charming, with dark eyebrows close together, vivacious and swimming.[94] But they are slight in body, fair to see, with hair beautifully thick, large forehead, prominent nose. Their disposition is: quick at learning, moderate, thoughtful, playful, erudite, slow of speech, planning many things, importunate for favour, observing all things and naturally good disciples. They master what they learn, are moderate, contemptuous, lovers of boys, addicted to custom, of great soul, scornful, careless of affairs giving heed to teaching, better in others’ affairs than in their own; useful for friendship.
7. The type of those under Libra: with thin bristling hair, reddish and not very long, narrow wrinkled forehead, beautiful eyebrows close together, fair eyes with black pupils, broad but small ears, bent head, wide mouth. Their disposition is: understanding, honouring the gods, talkative to one another, traders, laborious, not keeping p. 90. what they get, cheats, not loving to take pains in business,[95] truthful, free of tongue, doers of good, unlearned, cheats, addicted to custom, careless, unsafe to treat unjustly.[96] They are scornful, derisive, sharp, illustrious, eavesdroppers, and nothing succeeds with them. Useful for friendship.
8. The type of those under Scorpio: with maidenly countenance, well shaped and pale,[97] dark hair, well-formed eyes, forehead not wide and pointed nose, ears small and close (to the head), wrinkled forehead, scanty eyebrows, drawn-in cheeks. Their disposition is: crafty, sedulous, cheats, imparting their own plans to none, double-souled, ill-doers, contemptuous, given to fornication, gentle, quick at learning. Useless for friendship.
9. The type of those under Sagittarius: great in stature, square forehead, medium eyebrows joined together, hair p. 91. abundant, bristling and reddish. Their disposition is: gracious as those who have been well brought up, simple, doers of good, lovers of boys, addicted to custom, laborious, loving and beloved, cheerful in their cups, clean, passionate, careless, wicked, useless for friendship, scornful, great-souled, insolent, somewhat servile,[98] useful to the community.
10. The type of those under Capricorn: with reddish body, bristling, greyish hair,[99] round mouth, eyes like an eagle, eyebrows close together, smooth forehead, inclined to baldness, the lower parts of the body the stronger. Their disposition is: lovers of wisdom, scornful and laughing at the present, passionate, forgiving, beautiful, doers of good, lovers of musical practice, angry in their cups, jocose, addicted to custom, talkers, lovers of boys, cheerful, friendly, beloved, provokers of strife, useful to the community.
11. The type of those under Aquarius: square in stature, small mouth, narrow small, fierce eyes. (Their disposition) is: commanding, ungracious, sharp, seeking the easy path, p. 92. useful for friendship and to the community. Yet they live on chance affairs and lose their means of gain. Their disposition is:[100] reserved, modest, addicted to custom, fornicators, niggards, painstaking in business, turbulent, clean, well-disposed, beautiful, with great eyebrows. Often they are in small circumstances and work at (several) different trades. If they do good to any, no one gives them thanks.
12. The type of those under Pisces: medium stature, with narrow foreheads like fishes, thick hair. They often become grey quickly. Their disposition is: great-souled, simple, passionate, thrifty, talkative. They will be sleepy at an early age, they want to do business by themselves, illustrious, venturesome, envious, litigious, changing their place of abode, beloved, fond of dancing.[101] Useful for friendship.
13. Since we have set forth their wonderful wisdom, and have not concealed their much-laboured art of divination by intelligence,[102] neither shall we be silent on the folly into p. 93. which their mistakes in these matters lead them. For how feeble are they in finding a parallel between the names of the stars and the forms and dispositions of men? For we know that those who at the outset chanced upon the stars, naming them according to their own fancy, called them by names for the purpose of easily and clearly recognizing them. For what likeness is there in these names to the appearance of the Zodiacal signs, or what similar nature of working and activity, so that any one born under Leo should be thought courageous,[103] or he who is born under Virgo moderate, or under Cancer bad, and those under[104]....
4. The Magicians.[105]
(The gap here caused by the mutilation of the MS. was probably filled by a description of the mode of divination by enquiry of a spirit or dæmon which was generally made in writing, as Lucian describes in his account of the imposture of Alexander of Abonoteichos. The MS. proceeds.)
... And he (i. e., the magician) taking some paper, orders the enquirer to write down what it is he wishes to enquire of the dæmons.[106] Then he having folded up the paper and given it to the boy,[107] sends it away to be burned so that the smoke carrying the letters may go hence to the dæmons. But while the boy is doing what he is commanded, he first tears off equal parts of the paper, and on some other parts p. 94. of it, he pretends that the dæmons write in Hebrew letters. Then having offered up the Egyptian magicians’ incense called Cyphi,[108] he scatters these pieces of paper over the offering. But what the enquirer may have chanced to write having been put on the coals is burned. Then, seeming to be inspired by a god, the magician rushes into the inner chamber[109] with a loud and discordant cry unintelligible to all. But he bids all present to enter and cry aloud, invoking Phrēn[110] or some other dæmon. When the spectators have entered and are standing by, he flings the boy on a couch and reads to him many things, sometimes in the Greek tongue, sometimes in the Hebrew, which are the incantations usual among magicians. And having made libation, he begins the sacrifice. And he having put copperas[111] in the libation bowl[112] and when the drug is dissolved sprinkling with it the paper which had forsooth been discharged of writing, he compels the hidden and concealed letters again to come to light, whereby he learns what the enquirer has written.
p. 95.And if one writes with copperas and fumigates it with a powdered gall-nut, the hidden letters will become clear. Also if one writes (with milk) and the paper is burned and the ash sprinkled on the letters written with the milk, they will be manifest.[113] And urine and garum[114] also and juice of the spurge and of the fig will have the same effect.
But when he has thus learned the enquiry, he thinks beforehand in what fashion he need reply. Then he bids the spectators come inside bearing laurel-branches and shaking them[115] and crying aloud invocations to the dæmon Phrēn. For truly it is fitting that he should be invoked by them and worthy that they should demand from dæmons what they do not wish to provide on their own account, seeing that they have lost their brains.[116] But the confusion of the noise and the riot prevents them following what the magician is thought to do in secret. What this is, it is time to say.
Now it is very dark at this point. For he says that it is impossible for mortal nature to behold the things of the gods, for it is enough to talk with them. But having made the boy lie down on his face, with two of those little writing tablets on which are written in Hebrew letters p. 96. forsooth[117] such things as names of dæmons, on each side of him, he says (the god) will convey the rest into the boy’s ears. But this is necessary to him, in order that he may apply to the boy’s ears a certain implement whereby he can signify to him all that he wishes. And first he rings[118] (a gong) so that the boy may be frightened, and secondly he makes a humming noise, and then thirdly he speaks through the implement what he wishes the boy to say, and watches carefully the effect of the act. Thereafter he makes the spectators keep silence, but bids the boy repeat what he has heard from the dæmons. But the implement which is applied to the ears is a natural one, to wit, the wind-pipe of the long-necked cranes or storks or swans. If none of these is at hand, the art has other means at its disposal. p. 97. For certain brass pipes, fitting one into the other and ending in a point are well suited to the purpose through which anything the magician wishes may be spoken into the ears. And these things the boy hearing utters when bidden in a fearful way, as if they were spoken by dæmons. And if one wraps a wet hide round a rod and having dried it and bringing the edges together fastens them closely, and then taking out the rod, makes the hide into the form of a pipe, it has the same effect. And if none of these things is at hand, he takes a book and, drawing out from the inside as much as he requires, pulls it out lengthways and acts in the same way.[119]
But if he knows beforehand that any one present will ask a question, he is better prepared for everything. And if he has learned the question beforehand he writes it out with the drug (aforesaid) and as being prepared is thought more adept for having skilfully written what was about to be asked. But if he does not know, he guesses at it, and exhibits some roundabout phrase of double and various meaning, so that the answer of the oracle being meaningless will do for many things at the beginning, but at the end of the events will be thought a prediction of what has happened. p. 98. Then having filled a bowl with water, he puts at the bottom of it the paper with apparently nothing written on it, but at the same time putting in the copperas. For thus there floats to the surface the paper bearing the answer which he has written. To the boy also there often come fearful fancies; for truly the magician strikes blows in abundance to terrify him. For, again casting incense into the fire, he acts in this fashion. Having covered a lump of the so-called quarried salts[120] with Tyrrhenian wax and cutting in halves the lump of incense, he puts between them a lump of the salt and again sticking them together throws them on the burning coals and so leaves them. But when the incense is burnt, the salts leaping up produce an illusion as if some strange and wonderful thing were happening. But indigo black[121] put in the incense produces a blood-red flame as we have before said.[122] And he makes a liquid like blood by mixing wax with rouge and as I have said, putting the wax in the incense. And he makes the coals to move by putting under them stypteria[123] cut in pieces, and when it melts and swells up like bubbles, the coals are moved.
p. 99.2. And they exhibit eggs different (from natural ones) in this way. Having bored a hole in the apex at each end and having extracted the white, and again plunged the egg in boiling water, put in either red earth from Sinope[124] or writing ink. But stop up the holes with pounded eggshell made into a paste with the juice of a fig.
3. This is the way they make sheep cut off their own heads. Secretly anointing the sheep’s throat with a caustic drug, he fixes near the beast a sword and leaves it there. But the sheep, being anxious to scratch himself, leans (heavily) on the knife, rubs himself along it, kills himself and must needs almost cut off his head. And the drug is bryony and marsh salt and squills in equal parts mixed together. So that he may not be seen to have the drug with him, he carries a horn box made double, the visible part of which holds frankincense and the invisible the drug. And he also puts quicksilver into the ears of the animal that is to die. But this is a death-dealing drug.
4. But if one stops up the ears of goats with salve, they say they will shortly die because prevented from breathing. p. 100. For they say that this is with them the way in which the intaken air is breathed forth. And they say that a ram dies if one should bend him backwards against the sun.[125] But they make a house catch fire by anointing it with the ichor of a certain animal called dactylus;[126] and this is very useful because of sea-water. And there is a sea-foam heated in an earthen jar with sweet substances, which if you apply to it a lighted lamp catches fire and is inflamed, but does not burn at all if poured on the head. But if you sprinkle it with melted gum, it catches fire much better; and it does better still if you also add sulphur to it.
5. Thunder is produced in very many ways. For very many large stones rolled from a height over wooden planks and falling upon sheets of brass make a noise very like thunder. And they coil a slender cord round the thin p. 101. board on which the wool-carders press cloth, and then spin the board by whisking away the string when the whirring of it makes the sound of thunder. These tricks they play thus; but there are others which I shall set forth which those who play them also consider great. Putting a cauldron full of pitch upon burning coals, when it boils they plunge their hands in it and are not burned; and further they tread with naked feet upon coals of fire and are not burned. And also putting a pyramid of stone upon the altar, they make it burn and from its mouth it pours forth much smoke and fire. Then laying a linen cloth upon a pan of water and casting upon it many burning coals, the linen remains unburnt. And having made darkness in the house, the magician claims to make gods or dæmons enter in, and if one somehow asks that Esculapius shall be displayed he makes invocation, saying thus:—
“Apollo’s son, once dead and again undying!
I call on thee to come as a helper to my libations.
p. 102.Who erst the myriad tribes of fleeting dead
In the ever-mournful caves of wide Tartarus
Swimming the stream hard to cross and the rising tide,
Fatal to all mortal men alike,
Or wailing by the shore and bemoaning inexorable things
These thyself did rescue from gloomy Persephoneia.
Whether thou dost haunt the seat of holy Thrace
Or lovely Pergamum or beyond these Ionian Epidaurus
Hither, O blessed one, the prince of magicians calls thee to be present here.”[127]
6. But when he has made an end of this mockery a fiery Esculapius appears on the floor. Then having put in the midst a bowl of water,[128] he invokes all the gods and they are at hand. For if the spectator lean over and gaze into the bowl, he will see all the gods and Artemis leading on p. 103. her baying hounds. But we shall not hesitate to tell the story of these things and how they undertake them. For the magician plunges his hands in the cauldron of pitch which appears to be boiling; but he throws into it vinegar and soda[129] and moist pitch and heats the cauldron gently. And the vinegar having mingled with the soda, on getting a little hot, moves the pitch so as to bring bubbles to the surface and gives the appearance of boiling only. But the magician has washed his hands many times in sea-water, thanks to which it does not burn him much if it be really boiling. And if he has after washing them anointed his hands with myrtle-juice and soda and myrrh[130] mixed with vinegar he is not burned (at all). But the feet are not burned if he anoints them with icthyokolla and salamander.[131] And this is the true cause of the pyramid flaming like a torch, although it is of stone. A paste of Cretan earth[132] is moulded into the shape of a pyramid,—but the colour is like a milk-white stone,—in this fashion. He has soaked the piece of earth in much oil, has put it on the coals, and when heated, has again soaked it and heated it a second and third time and many a time afterwards, whereby he so prepares p. 104. it that it will burn even if plunged in water; for it holds much oil within itself. But the altar catches fire when the magician is making libation, because it contains freshly-burned lime instead of ashes and finely-powdered frankincense and much ... and of ... of anointed torches and self-flowing and hollow nutshells having fire within them.[133] But he also sends forth smoke from his mouth after a brief delay by putting fire into a nutshell and wrapping it in tow and blowing it in his mouth.[134] The linen cloth laid on the bowl of water whereon he puts the coals is not burned, because of the sea-water underneath, and its being itself steeped in sea-water and then anointed with white of egg and a solution of alum. And if also one mixes with this the juice of evergreens and vinegar and a long time beforehand anoint it copiously with these, after being dipped in the drug it remains altogether incombustible.[135]
7. Since then we have briefly set forth what can be done with the teachings which they suppose to be secret, we have p. 105. displayed their easy system according to Gnosis.[136] Nor do we wish to keep silence as to this necessary point, that is, how they unseal letters and again restore them with the same seals (apparently intact). Melting pitch, resin, sulphur and also bitumen in equal parts, and moulding it into the form of a seal impression, they keep it by them. But when the opportunity for unsealing a letter[137] arrives, they moisten the tongue with oil, lick the seal, and warming the drug before a slow fire press the seal upon it and leave it there until it is altogether set, when they use it after the manner of a signet. But they say also that wax with pine resin has the same effect and so also 2 parts of mastic with 1 of bitumen. And sulphur alone does fairly well and powdered gypsum diluted with water and gum.[138] This certainly does most beautifully for sealing molten lead. And the effect of p. 106. Tyrrhenian wax and shavings of resin and pitch, bitumen, mastic and powdered marble in equal parts all melted together, is better than that of the other (compounds) of which I have spoken, but that of the gypsum is no worse. Thus then they undertake to break the seals when seeking to learn what is written within them. These contrivances I shrank from setting out in the book,[139] seeing that some ill-doer taking hints from them[140] might attempt (to practise) them. But now the care of many young men capable of salvation has persuaded me to teach and declare them for the sake of protection (against them). For as one person will use them for the teaching of evil, so another by learning them will be protected (against them) and the very magicians, corruptors of life as they are, will be ashamed to practise the art. But learning that the same (tricks) have been taught beforehand, they will perhaps be hindered in their perverse foolishness. In order, however, that the seal may not be broken in this way, let any one seal with swine’s fat and mix hairs with the wax.[141]
8. Nor shall I be silent about their lecanomancy[142] which is an imposture. For having prepared some closed chamber p. 107. and having painted its ceiling with cyanus, they put into it for the purpose certain utensils of cyanus[143] and fix them upright. But in the midst a bowl filled with water is set on the earth, which with the reflection of the cyanus falling upon it shows like the sky. But there is a certain hidden opening in the floor over which is set the bowl, the bottom of which is glass, but is itself made of stone. But there is underneath a secret chamber in which those in the farce[144] assembling present the dressed-up forms of the gods and dæmons which the magician wishes to display. Beholding whom from above the deceived person is confounded by the magicians’ trickery and for the rest believes everything which (the officiator) tells him. And (this last) makes (the figure of) the dæmon burn by drawing on the wall the figure he wishes, and then secretly anointing it with a drug compounded in this way ...[145] with Laconian and Zacynthian bitumen. Then as if inspired by Phœbus, he brings the lamp near the wall, and the drug having caught light is on fire.
But he manages that a fiery Hecate should appear to be flying through the air thus: Having hidden an accomplice in what place he wills, and taking the dupes on one side, he prevails on them by saying that he will show them the p. 108. fiery dæmon riding through the air. To whom he announces that when they see the flame in the air, they must quickly save their eyes by falling down and hiding their faces until he shall call them. And having thus instructed them, on a moonless night, he declaims these verses:—
Infernal and earthly and heavenly Bombo,[146] come.
Goddess of waysides, of cross-roads, lightbearer, nightwalker,
Hater of the light, lover and companion of the night,
Who rejoicest in the baying of hounds and in purple blood;
Who dost stalk among corpses and the tombs of the dead
Thirsty for blood, who bringest fear to mortals
Gorgo and Mormo and Mene and many-formed one.
Come thou propitious to our libations![147]
9. While he speaks thus, fire is seen borne through the air, and the spectators terrified by the strangeness of the sight, cover their eyes and cast themselves in silence on the earth. But the greatness of the art contains this device. p. 109. The accomplice, hidden as I have said, when he hears the incantation drawing to a close, holding a hawk or kite wrapped about with tow, sets fire to it and lets it go. And the bird scared by the flame is carried into the height and makes very speedy flight. Seeing which, the fools hide themselves as if they had beheld something divine. But the winged one whirled about by the fire, is borne whither it may chance and burns down now houses and now farm-buildings. Such is the prescience of the magicians.
10. But they show the moon and stars appearing on the ceiling in this way. Having previously arranged in the centre part of the ceiling a mirror, and having placed a bowl filled with water in a corresponding position in the middle of the earthen floor, but a lamp showing dimly[148] has been placed between them and above the bowl, he thus produces the appearance of the moon from the reflection by means of the mirror. But often the magician hangs aloft[149] near the ceiling a drum on end, the same being kept covered by the accomplice by some cloth so that it may not show before its time; and a lamp having been put behind it, when he makes the agreed signal to the accomplice, the last-named takes away so much of the p. 110. covering as will give a counterfeit of the moon in her form at that time.[150] But he anoints the transparent parts of the drum with cinnabar and gum....[151] And having cut off the neck and bottom of a glass flask, he puts a lamp within and places around it somewhat of the things necessary for the figures shining through, which one of the accomplices has concealed on high. After receiving the signal, this last lets fall the contrivances from the receptacle hung aloft, so that the moon appears to have been sent down from heaven. And the like effect is produced by means of jars in glass-like forms.[152] And it is by means of the jar that the trick is played within doors. For an altar having been set up, the jar containing a lighted lamp stands behind it; but there being many more lamps (about), this nowise appears. When therefore the enchanter invokes the moon, he orders all the lamps to be put out, but one is left dim and then the light from the jar is reflected on to the ceiling and gives the illusion of the moon to the spectators, the p. 111. mouth of the jar being kept covered for the time which seems to be required that the image of the crescent moon may be shown on the ceiling.
11. But the scales of fishes or of the “hippurus”[153] make stars seem to be when they are moistened with water and gum and stuck upon the ceiling here and there.
12. And they create the illusion of an earthquake, so that everything appears to be moving, ichneumon’s dung being burned upon coal with magnetic iron ore[154]....
13. But they display a liver appearing to bear an inscription. On his left hand (the magician) writes what he wishes, adapting it to the enquiry, and the letters are written with nut-galls and strong vinegar. Then taking up the liver, which rests in his left hand, he makes some delay, and it receives the impression and is thought to have been inscribed.
14. And having placed a skull on the earth, they make it speak in this fashion. It is made out of the omentum of p. 112. an ox,[155] moulded with Tyrrhenian wax and gypsum and when it is made and covered with the membrane, it shows the semblance of a skull. The which seems to speak by the use of the implement and in the way we have before explained in the case of the boys. Having prepared the wind-pipe of a crane or some such long-necked bird and putting it secretly into the skull, the accomplice speaks what (the magician) wishes. And when he wants it to vanish, he appears to offer incense and putting round it a quantity of coals the wax receiving the heat of which melts, and thus the skull is thought to have become invisible.[156]
15. These and ten thousand such are the works of the magicians, which, by the suitableness of the verses and of the belief-inspiring acts performed, beguile the fancy of the thoughtless. The heresiarchs struck with the arts of these (magicians) imitate them, handing down some of their doctrines in secrecy and darkness, but paraphrasing others as if they were their own. Thanks to this, as we wish to remind the public, we have been the more anxious to leave behind us no place for those who wish to go astray. But we have been led away not without reason into certain secrets of the magicians which were not p. 113. altogether necessary for the subject,[157] but which were thought useful as a safeguard against the rascally and inconsistent art of the magicians. Since, now, as far as one can guess,[158] we have set forth the opinions of all, having bestowed much care on making it clear that the things which the heresiarchs have introduced into religion as new are vain and spurious, and probably are not even among themselves thought worthy of discussion, it seems proper to us to recall briefly and summarily what has been before said.
5. Recapitulation.
1. Among all the philosophers and theologists[159] who are enquiring into the matter throughout the inhabited world, there is no agreement concerning God, as to what He is or whence (He came).[160] For some say that He is fire, some spirit, some water, others earth. But every one of these elements contains something inferior and some of them are defeated by the others. But this has happened to the world’s sages, which indeed is plain to those who think, p. 114. that in view of the greatness of creation, they are puzzled as to the substance of the things which are, deeming them too great for it to be possible for them to have received birth from another. Nor yet do they represent the universe itself taken collectively[161] to be God. But in speculation about God every one thought of something which he preferred among visible things as the Cause. And thus gazing upon the things produced by God and on those which are least in comparison with His exceeding greatness, but not being capable of extending their mind to the real God, they declared these things to be divine.
The Persians, however, deeming that they were further within the truth (than the rest) said that God was a shining light comprised in air. But the Babylonians said that darkness was God, which appears to be the sequence of the other opinion; for day follows night and night day.[162]
2. But the Egyptians, deeming themselves older than all, have subjected the power of God to ciphers,[163] and calculating the intervals of the fates by Divine inspiration[164] said that God p. 115. was a monad both indivisible and itself begetting itself, and that from this (monad) all things were made. For it, they say, being unbegotten, begets the numbers after it; for example, the monad added to itself begets the dyad, and added in the like way the triad and tetrad up to the decad, which is the beginning and the end of the numbers. So that the monad becomes the first and tenth through the decad being of equal power and being reckoned as a monad, and the same being decupled becomes a hecatontad and again is a monad, and the hecatontad when decupled will make a chiliad, and it again will be a monad. And thus also the chiliads if decupled will complete the myriad and likewise will be a monad. But the numbers akin to the monad by indivisible comparison are ascertained to be 3, 5, 7, 9.[165] There is, however, also a more natural affinity of another number with the monad which is that by the operation of the spiral of 6 circles[166] of the dyad according to the p. 116. even placing and separation of the numbers. But the kindred number is of the 4 and 8. And these receiving added virtue from numbers of the monad, advanced up to the four elements, I mean spirit and fire, water and earth. And having created from these the masculo-feminine cosmos,[167] he prepared and arranged two elements in the upper hemisphere, (to wit) spirit and fire, and he called this the beneficent hemisphere of the monad and the ascending and the masculine. For the monad, being subtle, flies to the most subtle and purest part of the æther. The two other elements being denser, he assigns to the dyad (to wit) earth and water, and he calls this the descending hemisphere and feminine and maleficent. And again the two upper elements when compounded with themselves have in themselves the male and the female for the fruitfulness and increase of the universals. And the fire is masculine, but the spirit feminine: and again the water is masculine and the earth feminine.[168] And thus from the beginning the fire lived with the spirit and the water with the earth. For as the power of the spirit is the fire, so also (the power) of the earth is the water....
p. 117.And the same elements counted and resolved by subtraction of the enneads,[169] properly end some in the male number, others in the female. But again the ennead is subtracted for this cause, because the 360 degrees of the whole circle consist of enneads, and hence the 4 quarters of the cosmos are (each) circumscribed by 90 complete degrees. But the light is associated with the monad and the darkness with the dyad, and naturally life with the light and death with the dyad, and justice with life and injustice with death. Whence everything engendered among the male numbers is benefic, and (everything engendered) among the female numbers is malefic. For example, they reckon that the monad—so that we may begin from this—becomes 361, which ends in a monad, the ennead(s) being subtracted. Reckon in the same way: the dyad becomes 605; subtract the enneads, it ends in a dyad and each is (thus) carried back to its own.[170]
3. With the monad, then, as it is benefic, there are p. 118. associated names which end in the uneven number,[171] and they say that they are ascending and male and benefic when observed; but that those which end in an even number are considered descending and female and malefic. For they say that nature consists of opposites, to wit, good and bad, as right and left, light and darkness, night and day, life and death. And they say this besides: that they have calculated the name of God and that it results in a pentad [or in an ennead],[172] which is uneven and which written down and wrapped about the sick works cures. And thus a certain plant (whose name) ends in this number when tied on in the same way is effective by the like reckoning of the number. But a doctor also cures the sick by a like calculation. But if the calculation be contrary, he does not make cures easily. Those who give heed to these numbers count all numbers like it which have the same meaning, some p. 119. according to the vowels alone, others according to the total of the numbers.[173] Such is the wisdom of the Egyptians, whereby, while glorifying the Divine, they think they understand it.
6. Of the Divination by Astronomy.[174]
We seem then to have set forth these things also sufficiently. But since I consider that not one tenet of this earthy and grovelling wisdom has been passed over, I perceive that our care with regard to the same things has not been useless. For we see that our discourse has been of great use not only for the refutation of heresies, but also against those who magnify these things.[175] Those who happen to notice the manifold care taken by us will both wonder at our zeal and will neither despise our painstaking nor denounce Christians as fools when they see what themselves have foolishly believed. And besides this, the discourse will timely instruct those lovers of learning who give heed to the truth, making them more wise to easily overthrow those who have dared to mislead them—for they will have learned not only the principles of the heresies, but also the so-called opinions of the p. 120. sages. Not being unacquainted with which, they will not be confused by them as are the unlearned, nor misled by some who exercise a certain power, but will keep a watch upon those who go astray.
2. Having therefore sufficiently set forth (our) opinions, it remains for us to proceed to the subject aforesaid, when, after we have proved what we arranged concerning the heresies, and have forced the heresiarchs to restore to everyone his own, we shall exhibit (these heresiarchs) stripped (of all originality) and by denouncing the folly of their dupes we shall persuade them to return again to the precious haven of the truth. But in order that what has been said may appear more clearly to the readers,[176] it seems to us well to state the conclusions of Aratus as to the disposition of the stars in the heaven. For there are some who by likening them to the words of the Scriptures turn them into allegories and seek to divert the minds of those who listen to them by leading them with persuasive words whither they wish, and pointing out to them strange marvels like those of the transfers to the stars[177] alleged by them. They who while gazing upon the outlandish wonder are caught by their admiration for trifles are like the bird called the owl,[178] p. 121. whose example it will be well to narrate in view of what follows. Now this animal presents no very different appearance from that of the eagle whether in size or shape; but it is caught in this way. The bird-catcher, when he sees a flock alighting anywhere, claps his hands, pretends to dance, and thus gradually draws near to the birds; but they, struck by the unwonted sight, become blind to everything else. Others of the party, however, who are ready on the ground coming behind the birds easily capture them while they are staring at the dancer. Wherefore I ask that no one who is struck by the wonders of whose who interpret the heaven shall be taken in like the owl. For the dancing and nonsense of such (interpreters) is trickery and not truth. Now Aratus speaks thus:—
“Many and like are they, going hither and thither,
Daily they wheel in heaven always and ever [that is, all the stars]
Yet none changes his abode[179] ever so little: but with perfect exactness
Ever the Pole is fixed, and holds the earth in the midst of all
As equipoise of all, and around it leads Heaven itself.”—
(Aratus, Phæn., vv. 45, 46.)
p. 122.3. He says that the stars in heaven are πολέας, that is, turning,[180] because of their going about ceaselessly from East to West and from West to East in a spherical figure. But he says there is coiled round the Bears themselves, like the stream of some river, a great marvel of a terrible dragon, and this it is, he says, that the Devil in the (Book of) Job says to God: “I have been walking to and fro under heaven and going round about,”[181] that is, turning hither and thither and inspecting what is happening. For they consider that the Dragon is set below the Arctic Pole, from this highest pole gazing upon all things and beholding all things, so that none of those that are done shall escape him. For though all the stars in the heaven can set, this Pole alone never sets, but rising high above the horizon inspects all things and beholds all things, and nothing of what is done, he says, can escape him.
“Where (most)
Settings and risings mingle with one another.”—
(Aratus, Phæn., v. 61.)
p. 123.he says, indeed, that his head is set. For over against the rising and setting of the two hemispheres lies the head of Draco, so that, he says, nothing escapes him immediately either of things in the West or of things in the East, but the Beast knows all things at once. And there over against the very head of Draco is the form of a man made visible by reason of the stars, which Aratus calls “a wearied image,” and like one in toil; but he names it the “Kneeler.”[182] Now Aratus says that he does not know what this toil is and this marvel which turns in heaven. But the heretics, wishing to found their own tenets on the story of the stars, and giving their minds very carefully to these things, say that the Kneeler is Adam, as Moses said, according to the decree of God guarding the head of the Dragon and the Dragon (guarding) his heel.[183] For thus says Aratus:—
“Holding the sole of the right foot of winding Draco.”—
(Phæn., vv. 63-65.)
4. But he says there are placed on either side of him (I mean the Kneeler) Lyra and Corona; but that he bends the knee and stretches forth both hands as if making confession p. 124. of sin.[184] And that the lyre is a musical instrument fashioned by the Logos in extreme infancy. But that Hermes is called among the Greeks Logos. And Aratus says about the fashioning of the lyre:—
“which, while he was yet in his cradle
Hermes bored and said it was to be called lyre.”—
(Phæn., v. 268.)
It is seven-stringed, and indicates by its seven strings the entire harmony and constitution with which the cosmos is suitably provided. For in six days the earth came into being and there was rest on the seventh. If, then, he says,[185] Adam making confession and guarding the head of the Beast according to God’s decree, will imitate the lyre, that is, will follow the word of God, which is to obey the Law, he will attain the Crown lying beside it. But if he takes no heed, he will be carried downwards along with the Beast below him, and will have his lot, he says, with the Beast. But the Kneeler seems to stretch forth his hands on either side and here to grasp the Lyre and there the Crown [and this is to make confession],[186] p. 125. as is to be seen from the very posture. But the Crown is plotted against and at the same time drawn away by another Beast, Draco the Less, who is the offspring of the one which is guarded by the foot of the Kneeler. But (another) man stands firmly grasping with both hands the Serpent, and draws him backwards from the Crown, and does not permit the Beast to forcibly seize it. Him Aratus calls Serpent-holder,[187] because he restrains the rage of the Serpent striving to come at the Crown. But he, he says, who in the shape of man forbids the Beast to come at the Crown is Logos, who has mercy upon him who is plotted against by Draco and his offspring at once.
And these Bears, he says, are two hebdomads, being made up of seven stars each, and are images of the two creations. For the First Creation, he says, is that according to Adam in his labours who is seen as the Kneeler. But the Second Creation is that according to Christ whereby we are born p. 126. again. He is the Serpent-holder fighting the Beast and preventing him from coming at the Crown prepared for man. But Helica[188] is the Great Bear, he says, the symbol of the great creation, whereby Greeks sail, that is by which they are taught, and borne onwards by the waves of life they follow it, such a creation being a certain revolution[189] or schooling or wisdom, leading back again those who follow such (to the point whence they started). For the name Helica seems to be a certain turning and circling back to the same position. But there is also another Lesser Bear, as it were an image of the Second Creation created by God. For few, he says, are they who travel by this narrow way. For they say that Cynosura is narrow, by which, Aratus says, the Sidonians navigate.[190] But Aratus in turn says the Sidonians are Phœnicians on account of the wisdom of the Phœnicians being wonderful. But they say that the Greeks are Phœnicians who removed from the Red Sea to the land p. 127. where they now dwell. For thus it seemed to Herodotus.[191] But this Bear he says is Cynosura, the Second Creation, the small, the narrow way and not Helica. For she leads not backwards, but guides those who follow her forwards to the straight way, being the (tail) of the dog. For the Logos is the Dog (Cyon) who at the same time guards and protects the sheep against the plans of the wolves, and also chases the wild beasts from creation and slays them, and who begets all things. For Cyon, they say, indeed means the begetter.[192] Hence, they say, Aratus, speaking of the rising of Canis, says thus:—
“But when the Dog rises, no longer do the crops play false.”—
(Phæn. v. 332.)
This is what he means: Plants that have been planted in the earth up to the rising of the Dog-star take no root, but yet grow leaves and appear to beholders as if they will bear fruit and are alive, but have no life from the root in them. But when the rising of the Dog-star occurs, the living plants are distinguished by Canis from the dead, for p. 128. he withers entirely those which have not taken root. This Cyon, he says then, being a certain Divine Logos has been established judge of quick and dead, and as Cyon is seen to be the star of the plants, so the Logos, he says, is for the heavenly plants, that is for men. For some such cause as this, then, the Second Creation Cynosura stands in heaven as the image of the rational[193] creature. But between the two creations Draco is extended below, hindering the things of the great creation from coming to the lesser, and watching those things which are fixed in the great creation like the Kneeler lest they see how and in what way every one is fixed in the little creation. But Draco is himself watched as to the head, he says, by Ophiuchus. The same, he says, is fixed as an image in heaven, being a certain philosophy for those who can see.
But if this is not clear, through another image, he says, creation teaches us to philosophize, about which Aratus speaks thus:—
“Nor of Ionian[194] Cepheus are we the miserable race.”—
(Phæn. v. 353.)
p. 129.But near Draco, he says, are Cepheus and Cassiopeia and Andromeda and Perseus, great letters of[195] the creation to those who can see. For he says that Cepheus is Adam, Cassiopeia Eve, Andromeda the soul of both, Perseus the winged offspring of Zeus and Cetus the plotting Beast. Not to any other of these comes Perseus the slayer of the Beast, but to Andromeda alone. From which Beast, he says, the Logos Perseus, taking her to himself, delivers Andromeda who had been given in chains to the Beast. But Perseus is the winged axis which extends to both poles through the middle of the earth and makes the cosmos revolve. But the spirit which is in the Cosmos is Cycnus,[196] the bird which is near the Bears, a musical animal, symbol of the Divine Spirit, because only when it is near the limits of life, its nature is to sing, and, as one escaping with good hope from this evil creation it sends up songs of praise to God. But crabs and bulls and lions and rams and goats and kids p. 130. and all the other animals who are named in heaven on account of the stars are, he says, images and paradigms whence the changeable nature receives the patterns[197] and becomes full of such animals.[198]
Making use of these discourses, they think to deceive as many as give heed to the astrologers, seeking therefrom to set up a religion which appears very different from their assumptions.[199] Wherefore, O beloved,[200] let us shun the trifle-admiring way of the owl. For these things and those like them are dancing and not truth. For the stars do not reveal these things; but men on their own account and for the better distinguishing of certain stars (from the rest) gave them names so that they might be a mark to them. For what likeness have the stars strewn about the heaven to a bear, or a lion, or kids, or a water-carrier, or Cepheus, or Andromeda, or to the Shades named in Hades—for many of these persons and the names of the stars alike came into existence long after the stars themselves—so that the p. 131. heretics being struck with the wonder should thus labour by such discourses to establish their own doctrines?[201]
7. Of the Arithmetical Art.[202]
Seeing, however, that nearly all heresy has discovered by the art of arithmetic measures of hebdomads and certain projections of Æons, each tearing the art to pieces in different ways and only changing the names,—but of these (men) Pythagoras came to be teacher who first transmitted to the Greeks such numbers from Egypt—it seems good not to pass over this, but after briefly pointing it out to proceed to the demonstration of the objects of our enquiries. These men were arithmeticians and geometricians to whom especially it seems Pythagoras first supplied the principles (of their arts). And they took the first beginnings (of things), discovered apparently by reason alone, from the numbers which can always proceed to infinity by multiplication and the figures (produced by it). For the beginning of geometry, as may be seen, is an indivisible point; but from that point the generation of the infinite figures from p. 132. the point[203] is discovered by the art. For the point when extended[204] in length becomes after extension a line having a point as its limit:[205] and a line when extended in breadth produces a superficies and the limits of the superficies are lines: and a superficies extended in depth becomes a (solid) body:[206] and when this solid is in existence, the nature of the great body is thus wholly founded from the smallest point. And this is what Simon says thus: “The little will be great, being as it were a point; but the great will be boundless,”[207] in imitation of that geometrical point. But the beginning of arithmetic, which includes by combination philosophy, is[208] a number which is boundless and incomprehensible, containing within itself all the numbers capable of coming to infinity by multitude. But the beginning of the numbers becomes by hypostasis the first monad, which is a male unit begetting as does a father all the other numbers. Second comes the dyad, a female number, and the same is called even by the arithmeticians. Third comes the triad, a male number; this also has been ordained to be called odd by the arithmeticians. After all these comes the tetrad, p. 133. a female number, and this same is also called even, because it is female. Therefore all the numbers taken from the genus are four—but the boundless genus is number—wherefrom is constructed their perfect number, the decad. For 1, 2, 3, 4 become 10, as has before been shown, if the name which is proper to each of the numbers be substantially kept. This is the sacred Tetractys according to Pythagoras which contains within itself the roots of eternal nature, that is, all the other numbers. For the 11, 12 and the rest take the principle of birth from the 10. Of this decad, the perfect number, the four parts are called: number, monad, square and cube. The conjunctions and minglings of which are for the birth of increase, they completing naturally the fruitful number. For when this square is multiplied into itself, it becomes a square squared; but when a square into a cube, it becomes a square cubed; but when a cube into a cube, it becomes a cube cubed. So that all the numbers are seven, in order that the birth of the existing numbers p. 134. may come from a hebdomad, which is number, monad, square, cube, square of a square, cube of a square, cube of a cube.
Of this hebdomad Simon and Valentinus, having altered the names, recount prodigies, hastening to base upon it their own systems.[209] For Simon calls (it) thus: Mind, Thought, Name, Voice, Reasoning, Desire and He who has Stood, Stands and will Stand: and Valentinus: Mind, Truth, Word, Life, Man, Church and the Father who is counted with them. According to these (ideas) of those trained in the arithmetic philosophy, which they admired as something unknowable by the crowd, and in pursuance of them, they constructed the heresies excogitated by them.
Now there are some also who try to construct hebdomads from the healing art, being struck by the dissection of the brain, saying that the substance, power of paternity, and divinity of the universe can be learned from its constitution. p. 135. For the brain, being the ruling part of the whole body rests calm and unmoved, containing within itself the breath.[210] Now such a story is not incredible, but a long way from their attempted theory. For the brain when dissected has within it what is called the chamber, on each side of which are the membranes which they call wings, gently moved by the breath, and again driving the breath into the cerebellum.[211] And the breath, passing through a certain reed-like vein, travels to the pineal gland.[212] Near this lies the mouth of the cerebellum which receives the breath passing through and gives it up to the so-called spinal marrow.[213] From this the whole body gets a share of pneumatic (force), all the arteries being dependent like branches on this vein, the extremity of which finishes in the genital veins. Whence also the seeds proceeding from the brain through the loins are secreted. But the shape of the cerebellum is like the head of a dragon; concerning which there is much talk among those of the Gnosis falsely so called, as we have shown. But there are other six pairs (of vessels) growing from the brain, which making their way round the head and finishing within it, connect the bodies together. But the p. 136. seventh (goes) from the cerebellum to the lower parts of the rest of the body, as we have said.
And about this there is much talk since Simon and Valentinus have found in it hints which they have taken, although they do not admit it, being first cheats and then heretics. Since then it seems that we have sufficiently set out these things, and that all the apparent dogmas of earthly philosophy have been included in (these) four books,[214] it seems fitting to proceed to their disciples or rather to their plagiarists.
The Fourth Book of Philosophumena[215]