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Hippolytus
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Introductory Notice to Hippolytus.
[270] There is a hiatus here.
Chapter XLI.—Making a Skull Speak.
[271] The Abbe Cruice suggests ἐπίπλεον βώλου, which he thinks corresponds with the material of which the pyramid mentioned in a previous chapter was composed. He, however, makes no attempt at translating ἐπίπλεον. Does he mean that the skull was filled with clay? His emendation is forced.
[272] Or, “rubbings of” (Cruice).
[273] Or, “they say.”
[274] Some similar juggleries are mentioned by Lucian in his Alexander, or Pseudomantis, xxxii. 26,—a work of a kindred nature to Celsus’ Treatise on Magic (the latter alluded to by Origen, Contr. Cels., lib. i. p. 53, ed. Spenc.), and dedicated by Lucian to Celsius.
Chapter XLII.—The Fraud of the Foregoing Practices; Their Connection with Heresy.
[275] The word magic, or magician, at its origin, had no sinister meaning, as being the science professed by the Magi, who were an exclusive religious sect of great antiquity in Persia, universally venerated for their mathematical skill and erudition generally. It was persons who practised wicked arts, and assumed the name of Magi, that brought the term into disrepute. The origin of magic has been ascribed to Zoroaster, and once devised, it made rapid progress; because, as Pliny reminds us, it includes three systems of the greatest influence among men—(1) the art of medicine, (2) religion, (3) divination. This corresponds with Agrippa’s division of magic into (1) natural, (2) celestial, (3) ceremonial, or superstitious. This last has been also called “goetic” (full of imposture), and relates to the invocation of devils. This originated probably in Egypt, and quickly spread all over the world.
[276] Or, “topic discussed;” or, “not leave any place (subterfuge) for these,” etc.
[277] Or “you will suppose.”
[278] See Aristotle’s Metaphysics, book i.; Cicero, De Naturâ Deorum, book i. (both translated in Bohn’s Classical Library); and Plutarch, De Placitis Philosophorum. lib. i.
[279] The mention of the Persians, Babylonians, and Egyptians shows the subject-matter of the lost books to have been concerning the speculative systems of these nations.
[280] This rendering follows Miller’s text. Schneidewin thinks there is a hiatus, which the Abbe Cruice fills up, the latter translating the passage without an interrogation: “The Egyptians, who think themselves more ancient than all, have formed their ideas of the power of the Deity by calculations and computing,” etc.
[281] Or, “meditation on the divine nature,” or “godlike reflection.”
[282] The ms. has “says he.”
[283] The Abbe Cruice suggests the elimination of 9, on account of its being a divisible number.
[284] Miller considers some reference here to the six days’ creation (Hexaëmeron), on account of the word φυσικωτέρα, i.e., more natural. The Abbe Cruice considers that there is an allusion to an astronomic instrument used for exhibiting harmonic combinations; see Ptolem., Harmon., i. 2. Bunsen reads τοῦ ἑξακύκλου ὑλικοῦ.
[285] The text is obviously corrupt. As given by Schneidewin, it might be rendered thus: “These deriving from the monad a numerical symbol, a virtue, have progressed up to the elements.” He makes no attempt at a Latin version. The Abbe Cruice would suggest the introduction of the word προστεθεῖσαν, on account of the statement already made, that “the monad, superadded into itself, produces a duad.”
[286] There is a hiatus here. Hippolytus has said nothing concerning enneads.
Chapter XLIV.—Egyptian Theory of Nature; Their Amulets.
[287] Or, “names have been allocated,” or “distributed.”
[288] Miller thinks it should be “even number” (περιττόν). The Abbe Cruice would retain “uneven” (ἀπερίζυγον), on the ground that the duad being a περίζυξ ἀριθμὸς, the monad will be ἀπεριζυγος.
[289] Servius on the Eclogues of Virgil (viii. 75) and Pliny (Hist. Nat., xxxviii. 2) make similar statements.
[290] This is Miller and Schneidewin’s emendation for “uneven” in the ms.
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