spontaneously kindled, while the mngiclan pours out[1] a libation, by having lime instead of ashes burning nnderncath, and refined frankincense and a large quantity [of tow],[2] and a bundle[3] 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.
Chapter xxxiv.
The Illusion of the Sealed Letters—Object in detailing these Juggleries.
After, then,[4] we have succinctly explained the powers of the secret arts practised among these [magicians], and have shown their easy plan for the acquisition of knowledge,[5] neither are we disposed to be silent on the following point, which is a necessary one,—how that, loosing the seals, they restore the sealed letters, with the actual seals themselves.
- ↑ Or, "makes speedy preparation;" or, "resorts to the contrivance of."
- ↑ The words in brackets are added by the Abbe Cruice. There is obviously some hiatus in the original.
- ↑ Or, "the refuse of."
- ↑ In the margin of the ms. occur the words, "concerning the breaking of the seals."
- ↑ Or, "exposed their method of proceeding in accordance with the system of Gnosticism." Schneidewin, following C. Fr. Hermann, is of opinion that what follows is taken from Celsus' work on magic, to which Origen alludes in the Contra Celsum, lib. i. p. 53 (Spencer's edition). Lucian (the well-known satirist), in his Alexander, or Pseudomantis, gives an account of the jugglery of these magicians (see note, chap. xlii. of this book).
