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125 The Abbe Cruice suggests epipleon bwlou, 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 epipleon, Does he mean that the skull was filled with clay? His emendation is forced.
126 Or, "rubbings of" (Cruice).
128 Some similar juggleries are mentioned by Lucian in his Alexander, or Psendomantis, 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.
129 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 fo 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, 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 invocatioms of devils. This originated probably in Egypt, and quickly spread all over the world.
130 Or, "topic discussed; " or, "not leave any place (subterfuge) for these," etc.
132 See Aristotle's Metaphiysics, book i.; Cicero, De Natura Deorum, book i. (both translated in Bohn's (classical Library); and Plutarch, De Placitis Philosophorum. lib. i.
133 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.
134 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.
135 Or, "meditation on the divine nature," or "godlike reflection."
137 The Abbe Cruice suggests the elimination of 9, on account of its being a divisible number.
138 Miller considers some reference here to the six days' creation (Hexaemeron), on account at the word fusikwtera, 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 tou ecakuklou ulikou.
139 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 tbe Introduction of the word prosteqsan, on account of the statement already made, that "the monad, superadded into itself, produces a duad."
140 There is a hiatus here. Hippolytus has said nothing concerning enneads.
141 Or, "names have been allocated," or "distributed."
142 Miller thinks it should be "even number" ( peritton). The Abbe Cruice would retain "uneven" ( aperizugon), on the ground that the duad being a perizuc ariqmoj, the monad will be aperizugoj.
143 Servius on the Eclogues of Virgil (viii, 75) and Pliny ( Hist. Nat, xxxviii. 2) make similar statements.
144 This is Miller and Schneidewin's emendation for "uneven" in the MS.
145 Arat., Phaenom., v. 19 et seq.
147 This refers to Job i. 7, but is at once recognised as not a correct quotation.
149 Arat., Phaenom., v. 63 et seq.
151 "Pierced it through," i.e., bored the holes for the strings, or, in other words, constructed the instrument. The Latin version in Buhle's edition of Aratus is ad cunam (cunabulam) compegit, i.e., he fastened the strings into the shell of the tortoise near his bed. The tortoise is mentioned by Aratus in the first part of the line, which fact removes the obscurity of the passage as quoted by Hippolytus. The general tradition corresponds with this, in representing Mercury on the shores of the Nile forming a lyre out of a dried tortoise. The word translated bed might be also rendered fan, which was used as a cradle, its size and construction being suitable. [See note, p. 46, infra.]
153 Or, "son of" (see Arat., Phaenom., v. 70).
154 The Abbe Cruice considers that these interpretations, as well as what follows, are taken not from a Greek writer, but a Jewish heretic. No Greek, he supposes, would write, as is stated lower down, that the Greeks were a Phoenician colony. The Jewish heresies were impregnated by these silly doctrines about the stars (see Epiphian., Adv. Haeres., lib. i. De Pharisaeis).
155 Reference is here made to Matt. vii. 14.
158 Or, "for creation is the Logos" (see Arat., Phaenom., et seq.).
160 i.e., literally a sea-monster (Cicero's Pistrix); Arat., Phaenom;., v. 353 et seq.
161 proj autoij hdh toij termadi genomenon tou biou. Some read toij spermasi, which yields no intelligible meaning.
162 Sextus Empiricus, adv. Geom., 29 et seq. (See book vi. chap. xviii. of The Refutation.)
163 The observations following have already been made in book i. of The Refutation.