Previously Unpublished Works, Fascicle 5

version. Discourses IV and V of the Eastern version make Discourse IV of the Western scheme; they contain long interpolations An interpolation is a passage inserted into a text by a later hand, often expanding or altering the original work.. Discourses VI and VII are cut out of Discourse V, VIII is VI, and IX is VII. Discourse IV of the Eastern scheme is further enlarged by the story of the Jew and the Mage (pp. 144-6) which is not found in the Western Arabic, and is replaced in the Hebrew version by a warning against red-headed counsellors. Discourse IX is enlarged by a section ‘concerning the selection of times’ original: "de electione temporum"; this refers to elective astrology, the practice of choosing the most auspicious moment to begin an undertaking. (pp. 155-6) of an astrological character, while Discourse X, ‘concerning the sciences of incantations’ original: "de scienciis incantamentorum" (pp. 157-63), is a scientific theory of talismans A talisman is an object inscribed with magic signs, believed to confer protective powers or influence over nature., to which every Arabic manuscript adds a different series of illustrations. It includes the oldest known text of the ‘Emerald Table’ of Hermes The Emerald Table, or Tabula Smaragdina, is a brief, cryptic text highly revered by alchemists as the foundation of their art.. It is replaced in the Western form by Gate XIII which treats of alchemy, talismans, and the properties of gems.

THE DATE OF THE EASTERN ARABIC TEXT.

There can be little doubt that the process of accretion Accretion refers to the gradual growth of a text through successive additions over time. by which this version was formed was a gradual one. One of the additions (p. 58) may have been made at the beginning of the thirteenth century. The passage ‘Indeed, a girl in the master's house, through intense study, knew the course of the year and the stars...’ original: "Sane puella in domo patrisfamilias ex nimio studio sciebat cursum anni et astrorum..." may possibly be a reference to the learned lady ‘not yet twenty years old’ original: "nondum vicesimum agens annum" Constantina, daughter of the Archbishop of Athens, who ‘predicting plagues, thunders, an eclipse, and what was more wondrous, celestial motion, warned all her listeners without fail’ original: "pestilentias, tonitrua, eclipsim, et quod mirabilius fuit, motum praedicens, omnes suos auditores infallibiliter praemunivit" (Matthew Paris, v. 286). Matthew’s authority for this is John of Basingstoke, who had been her pupil and who first appears in Grosseteste’s Register as Archdeacon of Leicester in 1240 (there was an Archdeacon Robert in 1236-7); he died in 1252. If we assume, as an outside limit, that John was 60 when he became Archdeacon, he would be born about 1180, and as we know that he studied at Oxford, and ‘had studied and lectured at Paris for a long time’ original: "Parisius diu studuisset et legisset", he could not have got to Athens before 1210, and most probably much later, since the Testament of the Patriarchs, which he brought from Athens on a second visit, was translated in 1240-2. This gives us then an approximate date for the completion of the longer Arabic version, as after 1220. But very possibly the Archdeacon’s story is mere romance, and the reference in the Arabic text is a generality, founded on some such story as that of Hypatia Hypatia was a renowned female mathematician and philosopher in 4th-century Alexandria..

¹ The Archbishops of Athens in the early thirteenth century were Michael Akominatos, 1175-1206 (Greek), who certainly never had a daughter, Berard, Nov. 27, 1206-23, and Conrad, 1223-?, of whom nothing is known.