Problem of date and authorship—Law of Alfonso the Wise concerning magic and astrology—Picatrix a confused compilation—Its mentions of magic—Magic and science—Its use of natural virtues—Magic compounds—Things required of the magician—Magic procedure—Invocation of spirits—Necromancy and astrology—Astronomical images—Aims and results of magic—Appendix I. Manuscripts of Picatrix.
“Scientia ... semper acquirit et numquam diminuit; semper elevat et numquam degenerat; semper apparet et numquam se abscondit.”
Problem of date and authorship.
Another celebrated medieval book of magic is that which usually goes by the name of Picatrix, who is, however, cited in the work itself[2593] and would seem to have been only one of its authors, translators, compilers, or sources. Nevertheless he is mentioned as author in the title, Incipit, and Explicit of the manuscripts,[2594] and is called “very wise,” “a philosopher,” “most skilled in mathematics,” and “very learned in the arts of necromancy.” The treatise is also said to have been compiled by Norbar the Arab in the twelfth century.[2595] The Latin manuscripts state that in 1256 it was translated from Arabic into Spanish by order of Alfonso the Wise; but when it was translated into Latin is not stated. There seem to be no Latin manuscripts older than the fifteenth century, and none of our thirteenth century Latin writers seems to have been acquainted with the work. Peter of Abano, it is true, is charged by Symphorien Champier, writing in 1514,[2596] with having borrowed from Picatrix, but Champier does not substantiate his charge and I have found no unmistakable evidence of it in Peter’s works. Evidently, however, Picatrix was well-known in Latin by 1514. Rabelais, who lived from 1495 to 1553, speaks of “le reuerend pere en Diable Picatris, recteur de la faculté diabolologique” at Toledo.[2597] A Cambridge doctor about 1477 cites “Picatrix in his third book of magic.”[2598] The work seems never to have been printed and J. Wood Brown expresses the hope that it may never be translated into any modern language.[2599]
Law of Alfonso the Wise concerning magic and astrology.
It was fitting that such a work should have been translated from the Arabic under the patronage of Alfonso X, the Wise or Learned, who is noted for his astronomical tables, and whose favorable attitude toward astrology and magic may be seen from the law on those subjects in his code of the Seven Parts.[2600] Divination of the future by the stars is sanctioned in the case of persons properly trained in astronomy, although other varieties of divination are forbidden. And while those who conjure evil spirits or who make waxen, metallic, or other images with the aim to harm their fellows are to be punished by death; those who employ incantations with good intentions and good results are pronounced deserving of reward rather than penalty. Thus no objection is made to magic procedure but only to evil intentions and results.
Picatrix a confused compilation.
Picatrix divides into four books and is accompanied in the manuscripts by tables of contents which, however, are not as helpful as might be expected, since the work really has no plan and the division into books and chapters is quite arbitrary.[2601] In short, the work is a confused compilation of extracts from occult writings and a hodgepodge of innumerable magical and astrological recipes. The author states that he “has compiled this book,” that he intends to set forth “in simple language” what past sages have concealed in cryptic words, and that he has spent some six years in reading two hundred and twenty-four books by “ancient sages.”[2602] Whenever modern compilers of the notions of folk-lore and the magical customs of aborigines shall have exhausted their resources, a rich mine will still await them in this book of magic. We can give but a few specimens of its contents here.
Mentions of magic.
For Picatrix is openly and professedly a book of magic. At the close of the first of its four books we are told that its contents are “the roots of the magic art” and that “without them one cannot become perfect in such arts.”[2603] Throughout all four books such phrases are used as “magic works,” “magic effects,” “magical sciences,” and “the operator of magic,” and books of magic are cited by Abrarem (Abraham?), Geber, and Plato.[2604] It is true that the term necromancy is also employed frequently and a chapter devoted to its definition,[2605] and that astrological images and invocations of demons are the subjects most discussed. So in a way the work is primarily a treatise of astrological necromancy. But it is said on the supposed authority of Aristotle that the first man to work with such images and to whom spirits appeared was Caraphrebim, the inventor of the magic art.[2606] It is also affirmed that the science of the stars is the root of magic, that the forms of the planets or astronomical images “have power and marvelous effects in magic operations;” while after announcing his intention of listing “the secrets of ancient sages in the magic art,” the first thing that our author divulges is that the influence of Saturn exceeds the influence of the moon.[2607] Evidently little distinction is made between astrology and magic. On the whole then, although magic is not defined at length in Picatrix, it seems justifiable to apply it as a general term covering the contents of the book, and to regard astronomical images and invocations of demons as two leading features of the magic art.