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| The Burning Æsculapius; Tricks with Fire.
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Chapter XXXIII.—The
Burning Æsculapius; Tricks with Fire.
But after he discontinues uttering these jests, a
fiery Æsculapius249
| 249
Marsilius Ficinus (in his Commentary on Plotinus, p. 504
et seq., vol. ii. Creuzer’s edition), who here discusses the
subject of demons and magical art, mentions, on the authority of
Porphyry, that sorcerers had the power of evoking demons, and that a
magician, in the presence of many, had shown to Plotinus his guardian
demon (angel). This constitutes the Goetic department of
magic. |
appears upon the floor. Then, placing in the midst a pot full of
water, he invokes all the deities, and they are present. For any
one who is by, glancing into the pot, will behold them all, and Diana
leading on her baying hounds. We shall not, however, shrink from
narrating the account (of the devices) of these men, how they attempt
(to accomplish their jugglery). For (the magician) lays his hand
upon the cauldron of pitch,250
which
is in, as it were, a boiling state; and throwing in (at the same time)
vinegar and nitre and moist pitch, he kindles a fire beneath the
cauldron. The vinegar, however, being mixed along with the nitre,
on receiving a small accession of heat, moves the pitch, so as to cause
bubbles to rise to the surface, and afford the mere semblance of a
seething (pot). The (sorcerer), however, previously washes his
hands frequently in brine; the consequence being, that the contents of
the cauldron do not in any wise, though in reality boiling, burn him
very much. But if, having smeared his hands with a tincture of
myrtle251
| 251
Μυρσίνῃ. This
word is evidently not the right one, for we have (σμύρνῃ) myrrh
mentioned. Perhaps the word μάλθῃ, suggested in a previous
passage, is the one employed here likewise. | and nitre and myrrh,
along with vinegar, he wash them in brine frequently, he is not
scorched: and he does not burn his feet, provided he smear them
with isinglass and a salamander.
As regards, however, the burning like a taper of
the pyramid, though composed of stone, the cause of this is the
following. Chalky earth is fashioned into the shape of a pyramid,
but its colour is that of a milk-white stone, and it is prepared after
this fashion. Having anointed the piece of clay with plenty of
oil, and put it upon coals, and baked it, by smearing it afresh, and
scorching it a second and third time, and frequently, (the sorcerer)
contrives that it can be burned, even though he should plunge it in
water; for it contains in itself abundance of oil. The hearth,
however, is spontaneously kindled, while the magician pours
out252
| 252 Or,
“makes speedy preparation;” or, “resorts to the
contrivance of.” | a libation, by
having lime instead of ashes burning underneath, and refined
frankincense and a large quantity of tow,253
| 253 The
words in italics are added by the Abbe Cruice. There is obviously
some hiatus in the original. | and a bundle254
of anointed tapers and of gall nuts, hollow
within, and supplied with (concealed) fire. And after some delay,
(the sorcerer) makes (the pyramid) emit smoke from the mouth, by both
putting fire in the gall nut, and encircling it with tow, and blowing
into the mouth. The linen cloth, however, that has been placed
round the cauldron, (and) on which he deposits the coals, on account of
the underlying brine, would not be burned; besides, that it has itself
been washed in brine, and then smeared with the white of an egg, along
with moist alum. And if, likewise, one mix in these the juice of
house-leek along with vinegar, and for a long time previously smear it
(with this preparation), after being washed in this drug, it continues
altogether fire-proof.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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