nullo discrimine prævalente: with this power of *epeleustikē* (the determination of our soul—by its own movement), the difficulty is resolved. Col. 428 C 6. This etymology of the word *heimarmenē* (fate) is of the Stoics. — Plutarch, *De placitis philosoph.*, 1, 28: “The Stoics say that fate is a chain of causes, that is, an unbreakable order and concatenation.” — Idem, *De fato*, iv, 1, 15: “For it is called *heimarmenē* as if it were a series...” Cic., *De divinat.*, I, 55: “I call that fate which the Greeks call *heimarmenē*, that is, the order and series of causes; for when cause is linked to cause, it produces the thing from itself.” On fate, see Saint Augustine, book v, chapter 1 and following up to the eleventh, *De civitate Dei*; Cic., *De divinatione* and *De fato*, passim. Col. 429 A 3. *Sōmatika stoicheia* (corporeal elements). The name *stoicheion* given to the stars is not peculiar to Eusebius, but is used frequently by him, book 1, chapter 9: “The first to study nature among the Phoenicians knew the sun and moon and the remaining wandering stars and the elements joined to these, as deities alone.” *Stoicheia* are the fixed stars, says Salmasius in *De annis climact.*, p. 577. Eusebius, book 1, c. 4, p. 93: “To the visible elements of the world alone.” Id., *Hist. eccles.* 1, 51: “In Asia, the great elements fall asleep,” where see Valesius. Theodoret, *Hist. eccles.*, v, 59: “Those who deify the elements,” where see the same. — Epiphanius, *De hæresi Pharisæorum*: “Those things vainly thought to be a number of elements,” where, as Valesius says on Eusebius, *l.c.*, it is put for *stoicheion*. — Jerome in epist. ad Hedibiam IV: “Every week is divided into a Sabbath, which the pagans call by the names of idols and elements.” — Chrysost., homil. 58 *in Matthæum*: “For no demon attacks those who are caught by slandering the element.” — Theophil., *ad Autolyc.*, l. 1, c. 6: “Sun and moon and stars are his elements.” Idem, *Macrina*: “To depict by imitation the images of the elements themselves,” and others. Col. 433 A 10. *Hēkthēn* (I was led), ms. 467. Ibid. 15. Democritus, the author of atoms, chose to accept that all things happen by necessity rather than to tear away natural motions from indivisible bodies. Cicero, *De fato*, c. 10. Ibid. B 3. *Tosoutos* (so much), ms. 465. Cicero, *De fato*, c. 7: “There is a great struggle for you, Chrysippus, on this very point with Diodorus, for he says that only that can happen which either is true or will be true, and whatever will be true, he says it is necessary for it to happen, and whatever will not be true, he denies that it can happen. You say that even those things which will not be future can happen, as for instance that this gem could be broken, even if it will never happen.” — Plutarch, *De contradict. Stoic.*: “The fact that Chrysippus says that fate is not the complete cause of these things, but only a procatarctic (preliminary) one, will show him fighting against himself, where he praises Homer excessively for saying concerning Zeus: ‘To whom he sends evil, or good...’ (*Iliad. O, 109*).” He answers that fate, according to the opinion of Chrysippus, is not the effective cause but the primordial cause; but he disagrees with himself in that he praises Homer magnificently for saying of Jove: “And so accept with a calm mind the good or evil given to you.” — Plutarch, p. 361, X ed. Reischii. However, if anyone wishes to know what Chrysippus taught about fate and evil or good, insofar as it can be known since his works are missing, let him read what A. Gellius narrates in his *Noctes Atticæ*, book vi, chapters 1 and 2. Col. 434 B 13. This oracle reported by Herodotus... We refer to the version of Chalcidius: *Offended by neighbors, people most dear to God,* *Hold back the fortifications of arms...*
In this word *tō probolaiō* there lies a difficulty: from this word are we to understand the state of a man carrying arms both for harming and for defending himself? *En probolē* is a word customary in matters of war, which has the same meaning as "to bear forward," whether a spear or a shield by which they are covered; *probolē* in that sense sounds the same as *problēma* (shield/problem). Xenophon, *Memorab.*, book iii, c. 12-27: “Armed until they are of age with lighter weapons, so that they may be harmful to enemies, but also prepare a great protection (*probolēn*) for the citizens of the country.” Idem, *in Cynegetic.*, c. 5, describing the eye of a hare: “For it has its eyes outside, and its eyelids are lacking and it does not have protection (*probolēn*) against the rays.” Their eyes lack eyelashes by which they might be protected. From these it is lawful to conclude that God orders the Argives to attempt nothing except for the sake of defense, but to be prepared for fighting. See the note on *probolaion*, *Præparat.* book vii, c. 16, p. 330, where this word is taken for ambushes and is likened to the word *thelētron* (beguilement). Col. 436 A 1. See Stephanus of Byzantium on this oracle, under the word "Carystes." Ibid. B 1. The oracle which is now being discussed is mentioned by Stephanus of Byzantium under the word "Thasos," so that from this we may know that this island was formerly called Heria. See the oracle concerning the journey of the colony from the island of Paros to Thasos, reported by Archilochus, book v, c. 31. Col. 437 A 9. That which leads to the oracle given to Alcmaeon caused a certain difficulty, which arises from the double meaning of *Onomai* (one may say), which, while it seems to worship Apollo, in reality mocks him. He admonishes God not to be deceived by the foolish Alcmaeon who is asking. The oracle of Apollo to Alcmaeon is indicated. Firstly, he, says Apollodorus, iii, 159, killed his mother, wishing to obey the oracle, Apollo having commanded him; then, driven by the Furies, he went into Arcadia to Oecles, then into Psophis to Phegeus who purified him. Hence Euripides took *The Tragedy of Alcmaeon of Psophis*. See Hesychius, on the words *atenēs* and *apraiter*. But while he was staying in this region, a sterility arose; therefore, to him who was inquiring, the oracle replied that he should proceed to be purified by the waters of Achelous. That answer to the oracle is, as is likely, what begins with these verses. Thucydides reports it, book ii, chapter 102: “It is told that when Alcmaeon, son of Amphiaraus, after his mother was killed, was wandering through various places, Apollo gave an oracle that he should inhabit the submerged shores of Achelous which he dried out; and that he wished him to remain in this land, which, when the mother was killed, was not illuminated by the light of the sun, and therefore was not earth, since any other land would be contaminated by her presence; and that Alcmaeon for a long time in no way suspected that the alluvial deposits of Achelous were meant.” Idem is reported by Pausanias, viii, p. 646. Aristotle in the *Ethics*, chapter 1, is as follows: “In some things no compulsion is to be admitted, and therefore one ought rather to die and suffer the most cruel torments than commit them; for which reason, the Alcmaeon of Euripides acts ridiculously when he declares that he was forced to kill his mother.” Theodectes had published the tragedy of Alcmaeon, three lines of which are quoted by Eusebius, book x, chapter 3, in a fragment of Porphyry; Aristotle speaks of this in *Rhetor.*, book ii, chapter 23. For it is as follows: “We must see separately whether the one who suffered is worthy to suffer; and whether the one who acted is worthy to act, and then use it as is appropriate; for sometimes such a thing differs, and nothing hinders, just as in the *Alcmaeon* of Theodectes: Did none of mortals hate your mother? He replies, answering: But one must look at it having separated [the parts]. And when Alfesiboea asks, How? He answers catching her up: They judged that she should die, and that I should not kill her.” It must be examined separately whether he who is punished...
is punished justly, and whether he who inflicted the penalty inflicted it justly; then, where the equity lies must be judged, as in the Alcmeon of Theodectes: Did no one hate your mother? Alcmeon answering says: My reasoning must be weighed under a twofold aspect. How do you hear the affair? says Alphesiboeus. Alcmeon adds: They had decided that she would die, but that she should not be killed by me. D Cicero records a verse of a certain Latin tragedy titled Alcmeon, Academ., II, 17: It so happens that those beginning to rave feel and say that they see something which is not, and when they are relaxed they feel and say also those things of Alcmeon: But my heart in no way consented with the aspect of my eyes. D *Alcmeonides*, a work of an unknown cyclic poet, is indicated by Strabo, I, X. See the scholiast on Euripides at verse 1000 of Orestes. See what Athenaeus, at the beginning of book six, commemorates as taken from the comic poets Antiphanes and Timocles, having professed the material of the *Alcmeon* to be a certain very tragic subject. Eustratius, in his commentaries on the cited place of the *Ethics* of Aristotle, p. 59 verso, relies on two lines of Euripides: Mostly, indeed, my father urged me on, When I was entering the chariot, going to Thebes. Which he proclaims is not enough for him to be freed from guilt.
The city founded by Alcmeon was called Amphilochian Argos. Ephorus, cited by Strabo, must be consulted; in that place, they contend it was founded by the brother of Alcmeon. The text of this oracle is most corrupted. The second verse begins thus: *Amphi Arcadies*, which Vigerus retained. Heinichen, the last editor, believed in a strange way that he was acting correctly by reading *Amphi Arcadias*, by which the meter is broken, and which is false; for Alcmeon was not an Arcadian, but an Argive. A Holstenius in *Porphyry On the Life of Pythagoras*, p. 33, had proposed writing *Amfi aradiis*, but the meter of the verse was not yet restored. Valckenaer, *Fragmenta Euripidaea*, p. 287, reads: *Amphiaraiades*, and this was happily restored. Hence it appears with what care corrupted readings must be preserved; for truly, if instead of *Amphiaraiades* the text of Heinichen in the manuscripts had prevailed, the true reading would never have been detected. See Gregory of Corinth, *On Dialects*, p. 486, ed. Scheffer, and the notes. Thus it must be read in Ovid: Amphiaraiades to the Naupactian Achelous, Solve the unholy deed, he said; and he also solved the unholy deed. Ah! too easy, you who think that the sad crimes of slaughter Can be washed away by river water. (OVID, *Fasti* book II, 43.)
Col. 437 B 3. This passage disagrees with those things which Cicero and Eusebius himself, book XIV, ch. 4, say regarding the age of Arcesilaus, author of the second Academy. This passage of Cicero can be read in the first *Academics*: Zeno and Arcesilaus had heard Polemon assiduously, but Zeno, since he preceded Arcesilaus in age and discoursed very subtly. Hence we know clearly that Arcesilaus, the crow of Zeno, leader of the Portico, could not have been contemporary with Chrysippus, the third leader in the order of times of the same Portico; on the contrary, Epicurus and Chrysippus lived at the same time. Yet Diogenes Laertius, book VII, 183, relates that Sotion affirms, in the eighth book, that he taught philosophy together with Arcesilaus and Lacydes, rectors of the Academy. How are these conflicting things to be reconciled among themselves? This is not the place to demonstrate whether the history of Greek philosophy agrees with itself chronologically. We know, however, from Apollodorus that Epicurus was born in the third year of the 127th Olympiad, and Chrysippus, from the same, in the fourth year of the 126th Olympiad, Diog. Laert. book VII, 184; Epicurus lived seventy years, but Chrysippus lived seventy-three years. They were therefore contemporaries, whatever Sotion and Oenomaus may say. Arcesilaus, from the same Apollodorus, flourished during the 120th Olympiad. Diog. Laert., I, IV, 45.
Col. 440 A 3. See above, col. 1521, the note on the word *eirmos*. And all your house will go through blood. Ibid., B 1. This oracle, which is found in the *Phoenissae*, has been illustrated by many commentaries by attackers or defenders of fate; and thus it is rendered, verse 18: Do not sow the furrow of children by the violence of demons; For if you beget a son, he who begat him shall kill you; And all your house shall go through blood.
Col. 444 A 1. Trachim, of which there is treatment here, was made most famous by the tragedy of Sophocles which is titled *Trachiniae*; Homer recounts this city in the catalogue, v. 682: And they who held Alpenus, and they who held Alope, and they who held Trachin. This city was situated at the roots of Mount Oeta; it was later named Heraclea, in honor of Hercules, its founder. For after Hercules had apprehended Eurytus and his son, as Scytinus of Teos says, cited by Athenaeus, book XV, 461, wishing to take vengeance for their exactions, he killed them; and in that place he founded a city, to which the name Heraclea Trachinia was given. It was called by that name, says Stephanus Byzantinus, on account of its ruggedness; the same Stephanus wishes it to be a city of Thessaly. Strabo says, book X, p. 433, following Sophocles in that, that this was a city of Phthiotis; the same declares the uncertain boundaries of these two provinces. The matter comes into doubt, since Homer named Alos and Alope, whether he had in mind places which are now held to pertain to Phthiotis, or indeed cities of Locris, containing Trachim and the region of Oeta.
The Locrians, of whom there is treatment in the oracle, are they the same as those whom he names below, the *Oetaei*? Or is this verse of the same oracle? The question is not easily settled. Locris extended to Mount Oeta, as Strabo tells in the place cited above; however, different Locrians are never so denominated. For they are called Opuntii, Ozoleenses, Epicnemidii, and Epizephyrii, the last of whom, since they lived in Italy, only the Epicnemidii could have taken Trachim and be named Oetaei here.
Col. 448 D 5. *Chreon*, says Suidas, is the destined end of life. Aelian: But when he reached old age, he paid the debt common to fate, and obtained due burial. *To de chreon* is a participle coming from *chro* *chreo*; *meteron chreon*. A shifting of the tone followed, and according to Attic lengthening the *o* was turned into *o*, and it is indeclinable; adverbs ending in *on* are written with the short o, except for *chreon* and *ekpodon*. Leopardus cites many examples of this word; I shall refer to some. Euripides, in *Iphig. Taurid.*, 1486: For fate rules both you and the gods. Plutarch, in *Demetrius*: And quickly did fate accomplish the vision which had occurred to Antigonus concerning himself. In *Pyrrho*, 403: For fate was unavoidable. Suidas, in the word *Toros*, speaking of the death of Alexander the Molossian: Knowing that fate had been fulfilled. Suidas, in the word *Sebrianos*: And fate and necessity led him out. Moschopulus adds: *To chreon* when it is placed with the article, it is a monoptote noun. But without the article, an adverb... But it is better to call it an adverbial noun. See Eustathius, *Iliad*, book II, p. 166, l. VIII, Rome edition. *To chreos* is found accepted in the same sense; Alciphron, book I, epistle 25: It is not possible to flee fate; which Plutarch calls *moiridion chreos* (fated debt), in *Consolation to Apollonius*. Col. 452 A 11. The author of the *Rhetorica ad Herennium*,
lib. II, § 23, which is a part of the works of Cicero, commemorates these verses of Pacuvius: *Philosophers claim that Fortune is insane, blind, and brutish, and they declare her to be spherical and prone to standing upon a rolling globe.*
Col. 460 A 5. Themistius, in his commentaries on Aristotle’s *Physics*, Book II, uses these words: "Among those who discuss nature, natural causes are reduced by most to necessity; since, as is likely for them, necessity signifies the same thing as matter. Thus cold and heat and other material elements, which are recognized by those philosophers as the principles of things, exist by necessity. On the other hand, those who admitted a creative cause, like Empedocles and Anaxagoras, touched upon the matter without commentaries—as much as to say, those who have touched it may leave it alone." A
Ibid. C 1. This matter, taken from the life of Socrates, is repeated under the name of the Physiognomist, here designated by the name Indicus; from Aristocles, *Praeparatio Evangelica*, lib. IV, cap. 37. See Luzac, *De digamia Socratis*, p. 244. B
Ibid. D 5. *Peri-apta* and *Peri-ammata*. Pliny, in his work on white thorn, lib. XXIV, c. 12: "The seed of white thorn assists against scorpions. A crown made from it placed on the head reduces headaches." C
Plutarch, in *Life of Pericles*, § 38, says: "Theophrastus proposes in his *Morals* whether character can be changed by adversity, and whether virtue becomes weak when the body is burdened with pain; for which reason he reports that Pericles, when he was sick with his final illness, told a certain friend who was visiting him that he had placed an amulet around his neck given to him by the women—from which it is plain that he was able to assent to such a foolish superstition." D See Salmasius, *De annis climactericis*, p. 566; Petrus Petit, *Miscell.*, lib. II, c. 15.
Col. 464 B 3. Porphyry speaks of Bardesanes in the *Treatise on Abstinence*, lib. IV, p. 356, in these words: "The same things are said of the Chaldeans, as Bardesanes the Babylonian, a contemporary of our fathers, testifies—who, when he happened to have been at the court of the emperor together with the envoys of Dandamis, informed us about it." From this passage of Porphyry it becomes known at what time Bardesanes lived. Eusebius narrates in *Ecclesiastical History*, lib. IV, cap. 28: "That he offered to Emperor Antoninus a most renowned *Dialogue on Fate*; from which work those things that we read here have been extracted." Orelli mentions a specific treatise entitled *Historia Bardesanis et Bardisanitarum*, by Frid. Strunzius (Wittenberg, 1710, 4°). Epiphanius asserts that he offered his work not to Antoninus, but to Verus, the colleague of Marcus Aurelius. See him, *Heresy* XXXVI. His name is written *Bardesanes* in the *History* of Eusebius, and in Porphyry and Epiphanius, lib. II, tom. I. A
Jerome, in *Epistle 2 against Jovinian*: "Bardesanes the Babylonian divides the Indians into two classes, the Gymnosophists, of whom he calls one the Brahmins, and the other the Samanaeans, who are of such continence that they live on either the fruit of trees by the river Ganges, or communal rice or flour; and when the king comes to them, he is accustomed to worship them, and he believes the peace of his province to lie in their prayers." B
Col. 465 A 11. The name for them is corrupt when they are called Alaneenses. There is no doubt that this error should be attributed to the writer. C
Ibid. B 8. I do not determine the true meaning of the word *galē*; by this word some wish to signify cats, others weasels; I do not approach this question, as it pertains to natural history. D
Ibid. *Ek tēs tou kosmou archēs*. Vigerus translates it as "from the origin of the world," whereas these things should be understood concerning the extreme parts of the earth. This is noted by Grabe in *Spicilegium Patrum*, t. I, p. 290, which contains the fragment of Bardesanes, starting from that second part. That fragment is found in the *Recognitions* of pseudo-Clement. The author of the dialogues published under the name of Caesarius also made use of it, as he took opinions from it in his 109th question. The latter translated the passage in question here with these words: *hoi ta akron tēs chersou oikountes*, which proves my version. Furthermore, it should be observed that in this explanation of diverse laws, things are written not chronologically, but topographically. A
Ibid. The Seres are named by the same anonymous geographer whom Godefridus published in Geneva, 1628, in 4°; where fabulous things are told about them, just as in the writings of Bardesanes. B
Ibid. 12. *Ouk androphonon ou peronieuomenon*. What the last word signifies cannot be understood, since no one killed can be dragged to the judge. C
Ibid. D 4. Many ancient authors have named the Brahmins, especially the Byzantine geographer Palladius, in a book entitled *Peri tōn tēs Indias ethnōn, kai Brachmanōn*, published at London in 1665, in 4°. In the history of their institutions, false things are often mixed with true, as happens concerning peoples who are visited by only a few travelers. D
Col. 468 B 2. The Maguseenses are called Magouneenses in the manuscript 466; but all others write it in the same way as St. Epiphanius, lib. III, tom. II, page 1094: "Among the heresiarchs, those who preside over many mysteries among the Persians are called Maguseenses, but among the Egyptians they are, in fact, prophets; they adhered to the Guebres or Parsis, and worshiped only the stars. The Magouneenses, on the contrary, lived in Arabia Petraea."
The law of the Persians, by which fathers could enter into marriage with daughters, or mothers with sons, has already been invoked in lib. I, c. 4; many authors speak of it, and especially Plutarch at the beginning of the book *On the Fortune of Alexander*; Diogenes Laertius, lib. IX, in *Pyrrho*, 83; Athenaeus from Antisthenes, lib. V, 63, p. 220; Catullus; Quintus Curtius.
Concerning this abominable custom, many things have been said by Christians, which deserve to be believed, since some kings have acted in this way. For Cambyses married Atossa, who was born of Cyrus, as he himself was; and Artaxerxes married his own daughter. Pseudo-Caesarius, following Bardesanes in question 109, substituted the name of the Persians for the name of the Chaldeans and Babylonians. The Persians seemed to have adopted the customs of the peoples conquered by them. Lucian, *On Sacrifices*, 5: "Zeus married many others, but finally Hera, his sister, according to this law of the Persians and Assyrians." We learn from Herodotus how that use began, lib. III, c. 31; the author of it was Cambyses; "Before Cambyses," says the father of history, "the Persians were never accustomed to be joined in marriage to their own sisters."
Plutarch, in the cited book, asserts that Alexander prohibited this abominable custom, which both Bardesanes, who affirms that the Persians did not act otherwise in other regions than their own, and also Agathias, lib. II, page 61 (Lupar. edition), seem to deny, saying that those marriages remained among the Persians in his time. See Brisson, *De regno Persarum*, lib. II, c. 155 et seq.
The author of the *Exēgēseōs holou tou kosmou*, published by Godefridus, page 8, says: "After them are the Persians, neighbors to the Romans, whom history reports to us as notable both for great crimes and for extraordinary military virtue. The same are said to admit impieties of every kind, caring nothing for human dignity, and like animals devoid of reason, they have intercourse with mothers and sisters, and offend God the creator with countless impieties." A
Ibid. 9. *Gēloi te Mardoi*. This people is named by Dionysius Periegetes, v. 1018: *They hold the flourishing land toward the north, The Geli and the Mardi and the Atropatenian men.* "To the north of Media, the land fertile in flowers is inhabited by the Geli, the Mardi, and the Atropatenians." B All these peoples pertain to Upper Asia. C
A and what is said of them is more or less fabulous. Caesarius has Gēlais (an accent should be added to the final syllable, as in the Periegetes). But it is likely that this plagiarist is mistaken. Epiphanius and Ptolemy use the final accent, as does Eusebius. They are situated by Epiphanius near the Seres, whose customs we described at the beginning.
Vigerus observed various ways of spelling this ethnic name in Pliny who, in the same book, vi, chap. 6, calls them Gelas. Strabo, book xi, says that the Gelas must be distinguished from the Cadusians; both peoples equally inhabited the eastern shores of the Caspian Sea or Hyrcania. Theophanes, however, a fellow-soldier of Pompey, cited by the same Strabo, maintains they were situated between the Amazons and the Albanenses, to the east. They are called Gēloi, Gēloi, Gēlai, Gellai, Gelaioi, and the women, as in Bardesanes, Gēlissai. They are not to be confused, he says, with the inhabitants of Gela in Sicily, whom the oracle mentions, book v, chap. 35, and who are Gēloioi, sometimes designated as Gelaioi and Gellaioi; but in Latin, Gelani, Gelenses, and Gellenses.
Col. 469 B 4. *Phantasia* is taken in that sense: Acts xxv, 23; Polybius in excerpts, book xvi; regarding Scipio, "it happened that the *phantasia* [impression] regarding the man was great." Poseidonius, in Athenaeus, book v, p. 212: "Neither of the Romans, in such a *phantasia* [pomp], rioting in the Attic..." Aristotle, *Rhetoric* iii, 1: "But all these things are *phantasia* [a show], and toward the audience." In oratorical discourse, *pephantasmenon* and *pompikon* are joined together. See Gataker on Marcus Aurelius, book x, p. 8; Creuzer on Plotinus *On Beauty*, p. 136.
Ibid. C 7. "In Atrois." The name of this people is completely unheard of; whence it is to be believed that a corruption lies hidden here. It must certainly be read "Artaiois." Stephanus Byzantinus has: "Artaia, a Persian city, which Perseus, son of Perseus and Andromeda, founded. Hellanicus in the first book of the *Persica*. The inhabitants are Artaioi... Herodian calls them Arteatas with an epsilon." Artaia, a city of Persia, was founded by Perses, the son of Perseus and Andromeda. Hellanicus speaks of it in his first book of the *Persica*. The inhabitants are named Arteenses; but by Herodian, Arteates with an epsilon.
Col. 472 A 3. Sextus Empiricus, *Pyrrhonist Hypotyposes*, i, 24, 199: "And some trace the passionate friendship of Achilles for Patroclus to pederasty. And if it is something to be wondered at, since even those from the Cynic philosophy, and those around Zeno the Cittiean, and Cleanthes and Chrysippus, say that this is a matter of indifference?" Cicero, *Tusculan Disputations*, book iv, 54: "We have grown up with philosophers, and through our authority Plato, whom Dicaearchus not unjustly accuses for attributing authority to love. The Stoics, indeed, say that even the wise man will love." Apuleius in *Apology*: "Will you then deny that Solon was a serious man and a philosopher, whose most lascivious verse is this: 'Yearning for thighs and a sweet mouth.'" To pass over the writings of Diogenes the Cynic and Zeno, founder of the Stoic sect (and, as a matter of fact, Diogenes Laertius, in the *Life of Zeno*, cites his book *On Loves*), learn therefore the verses of the philosopher Plato to the boy Aster:
"You look up at the stars, my Star; would that I were Heaven, that I might look upon you with many eyes." "Formerly, you, my Star, shone among the living as the Morning Star; Now, dead, you shine as the Evening Star among the departed."
Likewise of the same Plato, on the boys Alexis and Phaedrus in a combined poem: "Now Alexis is nothing, only so much as that he has been seen to be beautiful, and every man turns to him everywhere. My heart, why do you show a bone to dogs? Will you suffer afterward? Did we not thus destroy Phaedrus?"
B And that I may not recount more, if I tell his latest verse regarding Dion of Syracuse, I shall make an end: "You lie in your wide-spaced fatherland honored by the citizens, having consumed my heart with love, Dion." See Athenaeus, book iv, c. 15, on Diogenes; Galen, book vi, *On Affected Parts*; Plutarch, *On the Education of Children*, vol. II, p. 11.
Ibid. 6. What Bardesanes narrates concerning the nefarious custom of the Gauls, these are attributed to the Germans by Sextus the Pyrrhonist, *Hypotyposes* iii, 24, 199: "For instance, among us it is considered disgraceful, or rather illegal, [the practice of] pederasty, but among the Germans, as they say, it is not disgraceful but rather one of the [common] customs." Not absolutely does this author speak, as is indicated by these words "as they say," yet Bardesanes is not prudent. Moreover, I do not find that these things should be believed to be true.
Ibid. B 1. The fabulous account narrated by Bardesanes concerning the Amazons is reported by Caesarius, whom Cedrenus follows in this, p. 54, edit. Lupar. All these things flow from the same source, since clearly both of these authors followed Bardesanes. But the matter must be traced deeper. Strabo, book xi, n. 504, edit. Morel., dealing with the Amazons, says: "The Amazons go up every year, in the spring, to the mountain which is separated from the Gargares; these also come there, according to an ancient custom, so that they may together offer a sacrifice and have intercourse with them, and so that offspring may be born from them. This happens by night, in such a way that each one couples with each one and neither knows the other. But after they have conceived, the Gargares release them; and they, after birth, keeping the daughters with them, send the sons to the fathers. Each one has his own son whom he has received, but who the true father is, he is ignorant." Then Strabo rejects all these things as fabulous, and even the history of the Amazons itself.
Ibid. B 10. *Phōnaskoi*. They are mentioned by Suetonius, *Augustus* 84, *Nero* 25; their duties are described by Cresollius, *Vacat. autumnales*, ii, p. 516.
Ibid. 11. Where in the world the regions are that Bardesanes names is difficult to say, since among them are many that were imperfectly known at the time the author lived. I have found only the following regarding some of them. Stephanus Byzantinus, in the entry "Taino," which is a tribe of the Saracens to the west, of which Ulpian himself speaks in the *Arabica*, and Veranius in the second book of the *Arabica*. Pliny, book v, c. 16: "The remaining frontier, where it stretches toward the Caspian Sea, is separated by the Araxes from the Atropatenian Otene region of Armenia." Stephanus Byzantinus, at the entry "Otene," which is a part of Armenia. Quadratus, in the third book of the *Parthica*, says: "The King of Armenia at that time lived in Artaxata and in Otene of Armenia."
Ibid. C 8. What Bardesanes and Caesarius his transcribing copyist attribute here to the Medes, Eusebius, following Porphyry, book iv, c. 21, p. 576, cited by our author in book i, c. 4, ascribes to the Hyrcanians, Caspians, and Bactrians: "Of the Hyrcanians and Caspians, some cast the living, others the dead, to the dogs... The Bactrians cast their living elders to the dogs." In both places it should be read *proballousi* [they throw]; and this can be explained if we say that Media, Bactriana, and Hyrcania are neighboring regions near the Caspian Sea situated to the south and east.
"Dead men still breathing," can be admitted with the greatest difficulty. Caesarius speaks more correctly: "All the Medes, with haste, set out the sick who are still breathing as fodder for the dogs, without feeling." In Porphyry: "those having aged."
Ibid. D 1. Porphyry, cited by Eusebius, p. 11, asserts from Herodotus, i, v, 71, that the Scythians bury one of the wives of the deceased king with him, as well as many who belonged to him while he was living.
Ibid. 2. "Most of the Germans die by the noose." Vigerus and Grotius, in his posthumous collection *On Fate*, do not understand this in the same way. Vigerus says: "Most Germans, having broken the..."
neck, die." There are two ways to solve this difficulty: 1) to investigate what the author intended to say; then, to discuss the meaning of the word *agchone*. Since the author wished to demonstrate that we are free in our actions, and consequently that the stars exert no force upon us, he did not wish to speak of an endemic infirmity causing death. Indeed, every human being, compelled by nature, seeks to oppose death, let alone agree to it. And granting that the Germans died of the disease of angina, it should be attributed to the region and the waters, and not to the men; which, moreover, is outside the question. The second difficulty arises from the idiom: the word *agchone*, which sounds like strangulation, does it also indicate angina? Concerning this word, a great and vehement controversy arose between Jacobus Gronovius and Perizonius at the beginning of the eighteenth century, and it gave birth to many books. For they wished to explain by what death Judas Iscariot perished, comparing the account of St. Matthew and the speech of St. Peter (Acts 1:18). Following the footsteps of Salmasius, Gronovius contended that *apagchesthai* meant simply to strangle oneself. By Perizonius, it was taken in a broader sense, namely, to perish by force. And therefore they derived the origin of this word simply from *agchein*, by which every kind of evil is expressed. But let us return to *agchone*, concerning which word we are now completely occupied, and which certainly designates strangulation done by external force, that is, the noose by which the deed is performed; can that word be understood equally of internal suffocation resulting from swollen organs suitable for breathing? It is read in Aeschines, *On the False Embassy*, p. 222, what is metaphorically called: "And was this then a noose and a release for him?" But here we are not dealing with a figurative expression: does *agchone* sound the same as the angina of the Latins? Perhaps it should be believed, if Pollux be invoked, 1. IV, 200: "*Agchone*, a purulent apostema between the epiglottis and the root of the tongue." But physicians never use the word *agchone* in that sense. "From the larynx," says Galianus in his commentary on aphorism 34, 1. IV, "sudden strangulation can arise if the passage of the lungs is tightened; if the internal muscles are inflamed as well as the membrane by which they are covered, then the passage of respiration is obstructed." Some physicians call that affliction *sunagche*, writing it with an 's'; but those who have made this way of writing their own (*agche*) to indicate this disease, call the pharyngitis *kunagche*. Few use the terms *parasunagche* or *parakunagche*. It is called *parasunagche* when the swelling affects the muscles of the pharynx; *parakunagche*, when the same occurs outside the windpipe. Hippocr., *On Diseases*, III, 10: "By what is called *kunagche*, the man is choked." Thus, in the Greek language, four words express conditions pertaining to the windpipe; but *agchone* is excluded. Celsus asserts, 1. IV, c. 4, that one word in the Latin language corresponds to these four words, namely, angina. That jocular mode of speaking of Demades is known, who said that the *sunagche* of Demosthenes was *arguragche*. See Pollux, VII, 104. There is, therefore, no reason for the version of Grotius. Schneider, in his Lexicon, at the word *agchontos*, provides the version of Vigerus, which he contends has the true meaning. Rufinus, who translates this passage which is found in the work entitled: *Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions*: "Many Germans end their lives by the noose." Therefore, let Celsus indicate to us how it is not a religious matter for a citizen to violate the laws of his country, by which marriage with a mother or daughter is permitted, if it is right to die innocuously by a noose from the same. Orig., *Contra Celsum*, 1. V, § 27, t. I, Benedictine ed. Here, therefore, it is not a question of an endemic disease.
Col. 473 C. 3. Mention has already been made of the decans, D which has been explained in a different way regarding divination by the stars by Scaliger on Manilius, and by Salmasius, *On Climacteric Years*. Kircher mentions it in the second part of his *OEdipus*; Jamblichus, *On the Mysteries*, p. 304; P. Petit, *Miscell.*, 1. II, c. 16; Stobaeus from Hermes Trismegistus, 1. I, c. 21, p. 468: thirty-six decans are known from these words of Manilius, *Astronom.*, 1. IV, v. 298: Which tenth part the nations have called decania, The name is placed from the number, because the stars created Under a triple lot are carried in parts of thirty, And they bestow ten among themselves to the stars coming together, And in their turn, single ones are inhabited by three signs. Thus the number 36 is formed. For since the zodiac consists of twelve parts which are called *zodia* or *dodecatemoria*, and since there are three decans in each one of them, it is necessary that thirty-six decans be formed. Yet it is read in the *Hexaemeron* of St. Basil, homil. 6, p. 54: "Since after thirty days the sun exits the twelfth part of the so-called fixed sphere, they have divided each of the thirty degrees of the dodecatemoria into thirty (560), then dividing each degree again into sixty, they have cut each of the sixtieths again (21,600) sixty times." There are therefore 1,296,000 parts of time; but let us return to the division of 36 which most admit for the decans. Stobaeus, *Physic. Eclog.*, 1. I, c. 21-9, p. 468 ed. Heeren, is as follows: "Since in the preceding general discourses you promised to declare concerning the thirty-six decans, now declare to me concerning them and the activity of these." The first origin of this appellation is to be sought, as well as the mystical use of these decans. Manilius believes the name takes its origin from *deka*: "The name is placed from the number." Why? When there exists no relationship between the number 10 and the decans. Scaliger speaks thus concerning this passage of Manilius: "This appellation is not ancient. It is taken from the Roman militia. For those who know Greek and Latin will never grant *dekanon* to be inflected by Greek analogy. On the contrary, there are *decanus* and *primanus* of the Roman militia. The *decanus* in the camps is the head of a contubernium, having nine under him," etc. Salmasius agrees, asserting that that name was taken from a Chaldean verb which signifies to look forward, to watch, and, in his opinion, *decanus* should be interpreted as bishop (*episkopos*).
Let us not settle such disputes. Regarding the attributions of the decans, I will mention only Hermes Trismegistus in Stobaeus, 1. I: "Let us understand them also as the keepers of the seven and of the entire circle, or rather of all things in the world." Galeus, in Jamblichus, p. 204: "Presiding over all things, holding together and keeping the order of all things, etc." "Let us suppose, therefore, that the decans preside over all things that exist in the world, and rule them according to an established order. You should know, moreover, O Tat, that they, while the other stars are subjected to motions, suffer nothing; in no way are they hindered in their course, nor do they retreat by any force, nor are they obscured by the light of the sun, as are the others; they are free, because they surpass all things; they preside over all, and day and night they traverse the world and exert the greatest power over us." The decans were nothing other than what are now called horoscopes by modern astrologers. We have spoken quite superfluously about those inept and futile things, which nevertheless exerted great force upon the weak minds of men.
Ibid. II. Caesarius in the 110th question adds here some new things about these hateful customs: "But how is it that in another section the Sclaveni (Slavonians) and the Physionitae, who are also called Danubians, some of them gladly eat human breasts because they are filled with milk, like mice, the…"
pupils are dashed against the rocks. There are some men who abstain from permitted meats; others, filled with savagery, recognize no laws but their own and, refusing to obey any leaders, kill them during banquets or while traveling; devouring foxes, cats, or apes; answering one another with howls, after the manner of wolves. Others, on the contrary, eat soberly, content with what they find. It would be tedious to speak of the Longobards, Norici, and Western Gauls, who are entirely ignorant of the courses of the stars or Hermetic or Saturnian science.›
A Col. 473 D 5. The Romans neither entirely subdued nor long held Arabia; few coins remain as witnesses of their victories. See Scaliger, *Emendationes in Eusebii Chronicon*, p. 206, and the passage in Dio Cassius, bk. 68, ch. 14: *«At about the same time, Palma, the governor of Syria, subdued the part of Arabia near Petra and made it a subject of the Romans.»* Around the same time (while Trajan was reigning, in the year of Rome 858), the prefect of Syria, Palma, conquered Arabia and reduced it to a Roman province. That it was still held by the Romans in the time of Hadrian must be believed, if credit is to be given to the coin of which collectors of coins speak. *Hadrian Petra Metropolis.*
Col. 476 B 1. Found in the notes of Grabe to the *Spicilegium Patrum* of the first century, vol. I, p. 514, is a very long note on the series of the Abgars or Agbars, kings of Edessa and Osrhoene. (Spanheim, *De usu et praestantia numismatum*, wishes this name to be written in this way.) I shall relate only what Epiphanius says in the 56th heresy, which is that of the Bardesanites, vol. I, p. 477: *«Being at first intimate with Abgar, the dynast of the Edessenes, a most holy man, and acting both together with him and sharing in his education, he lasted even after his death until the times of Antoninus Caesar—not the one called the Pious, but the one called Verus—who (Bardesanes) collected many things against Abidas the astronomer concerning fate.»* Bardesanes was at first a very close friend of Abgar, king of the Edessenes, and his advisor in the administration of the empire and a companion in his studies. He remained with him until his death, which occurred while Antoninus Caesar was reigning, not the one to whom the surname Pius was given, but Antoninus Verus. He argued much about fate against Abidas the astronomer. Grabe asserts that this concerns Heliogabalus and not Verus. Thus Abgar is known as the author of the law related by Bardesanes; that Abgar was his contemporary and friend.
Col. 477 B 1. This fragment of Origen is still read in the collection excerpted from his works and first published at Paris by Tarinus, under the name *Philocalia*; this collection was appended by Spencer to the edition of his treatise *Contra Celsum*, Cambridge, in-4º, 1658. Everything is published, but divided according to the nature of the works under the Huet Origeniana and in the complete edition of the Delarue brothers. Huet, however, appended most learned notes to his edition. In the B subsequent editions of the *Philocalia*, variant texts are usefully submitted. Huet and Delarue have followed Viger entirely.
Col. 480 C 6. This entire piece of reasoning is obscure; in the Latin version, Viger and Torinus, wishing to escape it, have merely interpreted the words which have no meaning. But he who translates into the vulgar tongue cannot escape in this way, since he wants to explain the argumentation of Origen. It is not easy to understand who that God is who, in his system, is said to be the unjust one of a double divinity. Is he the *Demiurge*, or the Father? It probably concerns the Father; for where are the contradictions of the disciples of Zoroaster, declaring the *Demiurge* unjust, when he is the author of the system from which injustice arises? Yet, by saying «the father of so many evils», it seems to speak of the Creator. From which it must be concluded that Origen’s adversaries, while attributing evil to necessity, nevertheless denied that the creator was unjust. There was, therefore, a contradiction which should not be attributed to the later Manichaeans, for they spoke of evil according to a principle.
Col. 496 A 8. *Dyskophos* and *kophos*. Is there a distinction between these two words? *Kophos*, which later sounded the same as "deaf," originally meant the same as "mute," on account of the analogy and connection that exist in these two infirmities. Whether that is the sense of the prophet, I do not know, and I leave the matter to be determined by those who are versed in the study of sacred texts.
Col. 497 A 12. *«The natal genius knows who tempers the star,»* Horace, *Epist.*, 2. 2; in the later epistle, v. 187. See the *Hexaemeron* of St. Basil, homily 6, p. 54, edited by Garnier: *«For what do they say? That the combination of the moving stars with those situated in the zodiac, having come together in such a pattern, produces such and such nativities, etc.»* What does he say? That from the conjunction of the stars moving in such a way with the signs of the zodiac, and according to certain laws, such or such a species of men will be generated.
Ibid. C 1. Sallustius, *De diis et mundo*, p. 262, edited by Gale. Amsterdam, 1688, 8°. *«For how could the events prior to birth arise from birth, and further, to predict the nobility or ignobility of ancestors; as if the stars were not themselves doing everything, but were only signifying certain things?»* How could events preceding our birth arise from that same birth, namely, to predict the noble or base condition of the parents, while professing that nothing is created by the stars but only that something is signified?
Col. 500, B 5. This appears to pertain to the apocryphal scriptures. C Ibid. C 2. *Epicheirema*, in my version the same as "attempt," is a technical expression of rhetors: these are treatises *ex professo*, on *Epicheiremata*; the proper sense is to be seen in the vocabularies of rhetoric. There exists in the works of the Greek rhetors a special treatise by Minutianus, *On Epicheiremata*, edited separately by Normann.
Col. 501 B 5. Viger in his notes contends that the negation should be placed before "asteroscopica," which he thus joins to "genethlialogica," because he assumes that "asteroscopica" is judicial astrology, the science indicated by "genethlialogica." But to me he seems to err, and I judge that "asteroscopica" is the observation of falling stars, of which he speaks below, since he distinguishes it from astrology properly so called.
Ibid. C 11. The word *dodecatemoria*, used in judicial astrology, signifies the twelfth part of a sign. Since, therefore, each sign consisted of thirty parts containing three decans, it had two and a half *dodecatemoria*. Its description is read in Manilius:
*Look now at the thing slight to view, but great in weight,* *Which can be marked only by a Greek name,* *Dodecatemoria in the title marking the causes.*