MARCUS GRÆCUS
(_Du Theil’s text_[126] _with Berthelot’s numeration_)
Incipit Liber Ignium a Marco Græco descriptus, cuius
virtus et efficacia ad comburendos hostes tam in mari
quam in terra plurimum efficax reperitur; quorum primus
hic est.
1. Recipe sandaracæ puræ libram I., armoniaci liquidi ana. Haec simul
pista et in vase fictili vitreato et luto sapientiæ diligenter obturato
deinde (?); donec liquescat ignis subponatur. Liquoris vero istius haec
sunt signa, ut ligno intromisso per foramen ad modum butyri videatur.
Postea vero IV. libras de alkitran græco infundas. Haec autem sub tecto
fieri prohibeantur, quum periculum immineret. Cum autem in mari ex
ipso operari volueris, de pelle caprina accipies utrem, et in ipsum de
hoc oleo libras II. intromittas. Si hostes prope fuerint, intromittes
minus, si vero remoti fuerint, plus mittes. Postea vero utrem ad veru
ferreum ligabis, lignum adversus veru grossitudinem faciens. Ipsum
veru inferius sepo perungues, lignum prædictum in ripa succendes, et
sub utre locabis. Tunc vero oleum sub veru et super lignum distillans
accensum super aquas discurret, et quidquid obviam fuerit concremabit.
2. Et sequitur alia species ignis quæ comburit domos inimicorum in
montibus sitas, aut in aliis locis, si libet. Recipe balsami sive
petrolii libram I., medulæ cannæ ferulæ libras sex, sulphuris libram
I., pinguedinis arietinæ liquefactæ libram I., et oleum terebenthinæ
sive de lateribus vel anethorum. Omnibus his collectis sagittam
quadrifidam faciens de confectione prædicta replebis. Igne autem intus
reposito, in aërem cum arcu emittes; ibi enim sepo liquefacto et
confectione succensa, quocumque loco cecidit, comburit illum; et si
aqua superjecta fuerit, augmentabitur flamma ignis.
3. Alius modus ignis ad comburendos hostes ubique sitos. Recipe
balsamum, oleum Æthiopiæ, alkitran et oleum sulphuris. Haec quidem
omnia in vase fictili reposita in fimo diebus XIV. subfodias. Quo
inde extracto, corvos eodem perunguens ad hostilia loca sive tentoria
destinabis. Oriente enim sole, ubicumque illud liquefactum fuerit,
accendetur. Unde semper ante solis ortum aut post occasum ipsius
præcipimus esse mittendos.
4. Oleum vero sulphuris sic fit. Recipe sulphuris uncias quattuor,
quibus in marmoreo lapide contritis et in pulverum redactis, oleum
iuniperi quattuor uncias admisces et in caldario pone, ut, lento igne
supposito, destillare incipiat.
5. Modus autem ad idem. Recipe sulphuris splendidi quattuor uncias,
vitella ovorum quinquaginti unum contrita, et in patella ferrea lento
igne coquantur; et quum ardere inceperit, in altera parte patellae
declinans, quod liquidius emanabit, ipsum est quod quæris, oleum
scilicet sulphuricum.
6. Sequitur alia species ignis, cum qua, si opus, subeas hostiles
domus vicinas. Recipe alkitran, boni, olei ovorum, sulphuris quod
leviter frangitur ana unciam unam. Quæ quidem omnia commisceantur.
Pista et ad prunas appone. Quum autem commixta fuerint, ad collectionem
totius confectionis quartem partem ceræ novæ adicies, ut in modum
cataplasmatis convertatur. Quum autem operari volueris, vesicam bovis
vento repletam accipias et in foramen in ea faciens cera supposita
ipsam obturabis. Vesica tali præscripta sæpissime oleo peruncta cum
ligno marubii, quod ad haec invenietur aptius, accenso ac simul
imposito, foramen aperies; ea enim semel accensa et a filtro quo
involuta fuerit extracta, in ventosa nocti sub lecto vel tecto inimici
tui supponatur. Quocumque enim ventus eam sufflaverit, quidquid
propinquum fuerit, comburetur; et si aqua projecta fuerit, letales
procreabit flammas.
7.Sub pacis namque specie missis nuntiis, ad loca hostilia bacleos
gerentes excavos hac materia repletos et confectione, qui jam prope
hostes fuerint, quo fungebuntur ignem jam per domos et vias fundentes.
Dum calor solis supervenerit, omnia incendio comburentur.[127]
Recipe sandaracae (libram, cerae)[128] libram: in vase vero fictili,
ore concluso, liquescat. Quum autem liquefacta fuerint, medietatem
libræ olei lini et sulphuris superadjicies. Quæ quidem omnia in eodem
vase tribus mensibus in fimo ovino reponantur, verum tamen fimum ter in
mense renovando.
8. Ignis quem invenit Aristoteles quum cum Alexandro ad obscura
loca iter ageret, volens in eo per mensem fieri id quod sol in anno
præparat. Ut in spera de auricalco, recipe seris rubicundi libram
I., stanni et plumbi, limaturæ ferri, singulorum medietatem libræ.
Quibus pariter liquefactis, ad modum astrolabii lamina formetur lata
et rotunda. Ipsam eodem igne perunctam X. diebus siccabis, duodecies
iterando: per annum namque integrum ignis idem succensus nullatenus
deficiet. Quæ enim inunctio ultra annum durabit. Si vero locum quempiam
inunguere libeat, eo desiccato, scintilla quælibet diffusa ardebit
continue, nec aqua extingui poterit. Et haec est prædicti ignis
compositio. Recipe alkitran, colophonii, sulphuris crocei, olei ovorum
sulphurici. Sulphur in marmore teratur. Quo facto universum oleum
superponas. Deinde tectoris limaginem ad omne pondus acceptum insimul
pista et inungue.
9. Et sequitur alia species ignis, quo Aristoteles domos in montibus
sitas destruere incendio ait, ut et mons ipse subsideret. Recipe
balsami libram I., alkitran libras V., oleum ovorum et calcis non
extinctae libras X. Calcem teras cum oleo donec una fiat massa; deinde
inunguas lapides ex ipso et herbas ac renascentias quaslibet in diebus
canicularibus, et sub fimo eiusdam regionis sub fossa dimittes;
postea[129] namque autumnalis pluviæ dilapsu succenditur. Terram et
indigenas comburit igne Aristoteles, namque hunc ignem annis IX. durare
asserit.
10. Compositio inextinguibilis et experta. Accipe[130] sulphur vivum,
colophonium, asphaltum classam, tartarum, piculam navalem, fimum ovinum
aut columbinum. Hæc pulverisa subtiliter petroleo; postea in ampulla
reponendo vitrea, orificio bene clauso, per dies XV. in fimo calido
equino subhumetur, Extracta vero ampulla destillabis oleum in cucurbita
lento igne ac cinere mediante, calidissima ac subtili. In quo si bombax
intincta fuerit ac accensa, omnia super quæ arcu vel ballista proiecta
fuerit, incendio concremabit.
11. Nota quod omnis ignis inextinguibilis IV. rebus extingui vel
suffocari poterit, videlicet cum aceto acuto aut cum urina antiqua vel
arena, sive filtro ter in aceto imbibito et toties desiccato ignem iam
dictum suffocas.
12. Nota quod ignis volatilis in aëre duplex est compositio; quorum
primus est:—recipe partem unam colophonii et tantum sulphuris vivi,
II. partes vero salis petrosi et in oleo linoso vel lamii[131] quod est
melius, dissolvantur bene pulverisata et oleo liquefacta. Postea in
canna vel ligno excavo reponatur et accendatur. Evolat enim subito ad
quemcumque locum volueris, et omnia incendio concremabit.
13. Secundus modus ignis volatilis hoc modo conficitur. Accipias libram
I. sulphuris vivi, libras duas carbonum vitis vel salicis, VI. libras
salis petrosi; quae tria subtilissima terantur in lapide marmoreo.
Postea pulvis ad libitum in tunica reponatur volatili vel tonitrum
faciente.
Nota, quod tunica ad volundum debet esse gracilis et longa et cum
prædicto pulvere optime conculcato repleta. Tunica vero tonitrum
faciens debet esse brevis et grossa et prædicto pulvere semiplena et ab
utraque parte fortissime filo ferreo bene ligata. Nota, quod in tali
tunica parvum foramen faciendum est, ut tenta imposita accendatur; quæ
tenta in extremitatibus sit gracilis, in medio vero lata et prædicto
pulvere repleta. Nota, quod quæ ad volandum tunica, plicaturas ad
libitum habere potest; tonitrum vero faciens, quam plurimas plicaturas.
Nota, quod duplex poteris facere tonitrum atque duplex volatile
instrumentum, videlicet tunicam includendo.
14. Nota, quod sal petrosum est minera terræ et reperitur in scopulis
et lapidibus.[132] Haec terra dissolvatur in aqua bulliente, postea
depurata et destillata per filtrum, permittatur per diem et noctem
integram decoqui; et invenies in fundo laminas salis congelatas
cristallinas.
15. Candela quæ, si semel accensa fuerit, non amplius extinguitur. Si
vero aqua irrigata fuerit, maius parabit incendium. Formetur sphaera de
ære Italico; deinde accipies calcis vivæ partem unam, galbani mediam
et cum felle testudinis ad pondus galbani sumpto conficies. Postea
cantharides quot volueris accipies, capitibus et alis abscisis, cum
aequali parte olei zambac, teras et in vase fictili reposita, XI.
diebus sub fimo equino reponantur, de quinto in quintum diem fimum
renovando. Sic olei foetidi et crocei spiritum assument, de quo sphæram
illinias; qua siccata, sepo inguatur, post igne accendatur.
16. Alia candela que continuum præstat incendium. Vermes noctilucas
cum oleo zambac puro teres et in rotunda ponas vitrea, orificio
lutato cera Græca et sale combusto bene recluso et in fimo, ut iam
dictum est, equino reponenda. Quo soluto, sphæram de ferro Indico vel
auricalco undique cum penna illinias; quæ his iuncta et dessiccata igne
succendatur et nunquam deficiet. Si vero attingit pluvia, majus præstat
incendii incrementum.
17. Alia quæ semel incensa dat lumen diuturnum. Recipe noctilucas
quum incipiunt volare, et cum æquali parte olei zambac commixta, XIV.
diebus sub fimo fodias equino. Quo inde extracto, ad quartam partem
istius assumas felles testudinis, ad sex felles mustelæ, ad medietatem
fellis furonis. In fimo repone, ut iam dictum est. Deinde exhibe in
quolibet vase lichnum, cujuscumque generis, pone de ligno aut latone
vel ferro vel ære. Ea tandem hoc oleo peruncta et accensa diuturnum
præstat incendium. Haec autem opera prodigiosa et admiranda Hermes et
Tholomeus[133] asserunt.
18. Hoc autem genus candelæ neque in domo clausa nec aperta neque in
aqua extingui poterit. Quod est: recipe fel testudinis, fel marini
leporis sive lupi aquatici de cuius felle Tyriaca. Quibus insimul
collectis quadrupliciter noctilucarum capitibus ac alis præcisis
adicies, totumque in vase plumbeo vel vitreo repositum in fimo
subfodias equino, ut dictum est, quod extractum oleum recipias. Verum
tum cum æquali parte prædictorum fellium et æquali noctilucarum
admiscens, sub fimo XI. diebus subfodias per singulares hebdomades
fimum renovando; quo iam extracto de radice herbæ que cyrogaleonis[134]
et noctilucis pabulum factum, ex hoc liquore medium superfundas. Quod
si volueris, omnia repone in vase vitreo et eodem ordine fit. Quolibet
enim loco repositum fuerit, continuum præstat incendium.
19. Candela quæ in domo relucet ut argentum. Recipe lacertam nigram
vel viridem, cuius caudam amputa et desicca; nam in cauda eius argenti
vivi silicem reperies. Deinde quodcumque lichnum in illo illinitum ac
involutum in lampade locabis vitrea aut ferrea, qua accensa mox domus
argenteum induet colorem, et quicumque in domo illa erit, ad modum
argenti relucebit.
20. Ut domus quælibet viridem induat colorem et aviculæ coloris
ejusdem volent. Recipe cerebrum aviculæ in panno involvens tentam et
baculum, inde faciens vel pabulum in lampade viridi novo oleo olivarum
accendatur.
21. Ut ignem manibus gestare possis sine ulla læsione. Cum aqua fabarum
calida calx dissolvatur, modicum terræ Messinæ, postea parum malvæ
visci adicies. Quibus insimul commixtis palmam illinias et desiccari
permittas.
22. Ut aliquis sine læsione comburi videatur. Alceam cum albumine
ovorum confice, et corpus perungue et desiccari permitte. Deinde coque
cum vitellis ovorum iterum, commiscens terendo super pannum lineum.
Postea sulphur pulverisatum superaspergens accende.
23. Candela quæ, quum aliquis in manibus apertis tenuerit, cito
extinguitur; si vero clausis, ignis subito renitebitur: et haec
millies, si vis, poteris facere. Recipe nucem Indicam vel castaneam,
eam aqua camphoræ conficias, et manus cum eo inungue, et fiet confestim.
24. Confectio visci est cum si aqua projecta fuerit, accendetur ex
toto. Recipe calcem vivam, eamque cum modico gummi Arabici et oleo in
vase candido cum sulphure confice; ex quo factum viscum et aqua aspersa
accendetur. Hac vero confectione domus quælibet adveniente pluvia
accendetur.
25. Lapis qui dicitur petra solis in domo locandus, et appositus
lapidi qui dicitur albacarimum (_alba ceraunia?_). Lapis quidem niger
est et rotundus, candidas vero habens notas, ex quo vero lux solaris
serenissimus procedit radius. Quem si in domo dimiseris, non minor quam
ex candelis cereis splendor procedit. Hic in loco sublimi positus et
aqua compositus relucet valde.
26. Ignem Græcum tali modo facies. Recipe sulphur vivum, tartarum,
sarcocollam et picem, sal coctum, oleum petroleum et oleum gemmæ.
Facias bullire invicem omnia ista bene. Postea impone stuppam et
accende, quod, si volueris, exhibere (poteris ?) per embotum ut supra
diximus.[135] Stuppa illinita non extinguetur, nisi urina vel aceto vel
arena.
27. Aquam ardentem sic facies. Recipe vinum nigrum spissum et vetus
et in una quarta ipsius distemperabuntur unciæ II. sulphuris vivi
subtilissime pulverisati, lib. II. tartari extracti a bono vino albo,
unciæ II. salis communis; et subdita ponas in cucurbita bene plumbata
et alembico supposito destillabis aquam ardentem quam servare debes in
vase clauso vitreo.
28. Experimentum mirabile quod fecit homines ire in igne sini læsione
vel etiam portare ignem vel ferrum calidum in manu. Recipe succum
bisvalvæ et albumen ovi et semen psillii et calcem et pulverisa;
et confice cum albumine succis (?) raphani et commisce. Et ex hac
commixtione illinias corpus tuum et manum et desiccare permitte et post
iterum illinias; et tunc poteris audacter sustinere sine nocumento.
29. Si autem velis ut videatur comburi, tunc accenditur sulphur, nec
nocebit ei.
30. Candela accensa quæ tantam reddit flammam quæ crines vel vestes
tenentis eam comburit. Recipe terebenthinam et destilla per alembicum
aquam ardentem, quam impones in vino cui applicatur candela et ardebit
ipsa.
31. Recipe colophonium et picem subtilissime tritum et ibi cum tunica
proicies in ignem vel in flammam candelæ.
32. Ignis volantis in aëre triplex est compositio. Quorum primus fit de
sale petroso et sulphure et oleo lini, quibus tritis, distemperatis et
in canna positis et accensis, poterit in aërem sufflari.
33. Alius ignis volans in aëre fit ex sale petroso et sulphure vivo et
ex carbonibus vitis vel salicis; quibus mixtis et in tenta de papiro
facta positis et accensis, mox in aërem volat. Et nota, quod respectu
sulphuris debes ponere tres partes de carbonibus, et respectu carbonum
tres partes salpetræ.
34. Carbunculum gemmæ lumen præstantem sic facies. Recipe noctilucas
quam plurimas; ipsas conteras in ampulla vitrea et in fimo equino
calido sepelias et permorari permittas per XV. dies. Postea ipsas
remotas destillabis per alembicum et ipsam aquam in cristallo reponas
concavo.
35. Candela durabilis maxime ingeniosa fit. Fiat archa plumbea vel
ænea omnino plena intus et in fundo locetur canale gracile tendens ad
candelabrum, et præstabit lumen continuum oleo durante.
Explicit liber Ignium.
CHEMICAL INDEX.
_Rec._
Acetum, 11, 26
Æs, 17, 35
” Italicus, 15
” Rubicundus, 8
Æthiopiæ Oleum, 3
Alambicum, 27, 30, 34
Albacarimum (Alba Ceraunia ?), 25
Alcea ?, 22
Alkitran, 1, 3, 6, 8, 9
Ammoniæ Liquor, 1
Anethorum Oleum, 2
Aqua Ardens, 27, 30
Arena, 11, 26
Argentum Vivum, 19
Asphaltum, 10
Astrolabium, 8
Auricalcum, 8, 16
Aviculæ Cerebrum, 20
Balsamum, 2, 3, 9
Bismalvæ Succum, 28
Bombax, 10
Calx, 21, 28
” non Extincta, 9
” Viva, 15, 24
Camphoræ Aqua, 23
Cantharides, 15
Carbo Salicis, 13, 33
Carbo Vitis, 13, 33
Carbunculum, 34
Cera, 6, 7, 13
Colophonium, 8, 10, 12, 31
Cucurbita, 10, 27
Cyrogaleo (Cynoglossum ?), 18
Embotum, 26
Fabarum Aqua, 21
Ferri Limaturæ, 8
Ferrum, 17
” Indicum, 16
Filtrum, 6, 11
Fimum Columbinum, 10
” Ovinum, 10
Furonis Fel, 17
Galbanum, 15
Gemmæ Oleum, 26
Gummi Arabicum, 24
Juniperi Oleum, 4
Lacertus Niger, 19
” Viridis, 19
Lamii Oleum, 12
Laterum Oleum, 2
Laton, 17
Leporis Marini Fel, 18
Lini Oleum, 7, 12, 32
Lupi Aquatici Fel, 18
Lutum Sapientiæ, 1[136]
Malvæ Viscus, 21
Marrubii Lignum, 6
Medulla Cannæ Ferulæ, 2
Mustelæ Fel, 17
Noctilucæ, 17, 18, 34
Nux Castanea, 23
” Indica, 23
Oleum, 24, 35
” Foetidum, 15
Olivarum Oleum, 20
Ovorum Albumen, 22, 28
” Oleum, 6, 8, 9
” Vitella, 5, 22
Petroleum, 2, 10, 26
Picula, 10
Pinguedo Arietina, 2
Pix, 26, 31
Plumbum, 8, 35
Psillii Semen, 28
Raphani Succum, 28
Sal Coctus, 26
” Combustus, 16
” Communis, 27
Sal Petrosus, 12, 13, 14, 32, 33
Sandraca, 1, 7
Sarcocolla, 26
Stannum, 8
Stuppa, 26
Sulphur, 2, 4, 6, 22, 24, 29, 32, 33
” Croceum, 8
” Oleum, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8
” Splendidum, 5
” Vivum, 10, 12, 13, 26, 27, 33
Tartarum, 10, 26, 27
Terebenthina, 30
” Oleum, 2
Terra Messinæ, 21
Testudinis Fel, 15, 17, 18
Tyriaca, 18
Urina, 11, 26
Vermes Noctilucæ, 16
Vinum, 30
” Album, 27
” Nigram, 27
Zembac Oleum, 15, 16, 17
M. Berthelot (i. 100 _ff._) gives the best existing text of the
foregoing tract, founded on Paris MSS. 7156 and 7158 collated with the
Munich MS. 267. He adds extracts from the Munich MS. 197, dated 1438.
Herr von Romocki gives the text reproduced here and the Nürnberg MS. of
a somewhat later date than the Paris MSS., say 1350.[137]
A glance at the text given here shows that, far from being a formal
and connected treatise, it is a medley of recipes thrown together with
very little method and without any literary skill. Of the thirty-five
recipes (in Du Theil’s MS.) fourteen are war mixtures, six relate to
the extinction of incendiaries or the prevention and cure of burns,
eleven are for lamps, lights, &c., and four describe the preparation
of certain chemicals—one of them, No. 14, giving a mode of refining
saltpetre. The war mixtures consist of nine recipes for various fires,
Nos. 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 24, and 26; one for fire-arrow composition,
No. 10; and four for rockets and Roman candles (including a “cracker”),
Nos. 12, 13, 32, and 33. Nos. 9, 15, and 24 contain quicklime; 12, 13,
14, 32, and 33 contain saltpetre.
A closer examination leads to the conclusion that the tract is the work
of neither one author nor one period. As we read of such ingredients
as weasel’s gall (17) and paste of glow-worms (16); of the mercury to
be found in black and green lizards’ tails (19); of the mixture which
ignites incontinently at sunrise, wherewith crows are to be anointed
and despatched against the enemy (3), we seem to hear the chant of the
witches in “Macbeth”:—
“Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing.”
These recipes embody the same traditions as the war recipes of the
“Kestoi” of Sextus Julius Africanus, which belong to the seventh
century. But on turning to Nos. 32 and 33, we find recipes as precise
and formal as those of Hassan er-Rammah, who wrote in the last
quarter of the thirteenth century. The description of the rocket
and its composition (13) is as definite and intelligible as many
a recipe of the seventeenth century: recipes 8 and 17, with their
allusions to Hermes, the mythical Alexander the Great, Aristotle the
wizard and Ptolemy the magician, belong to a far earlier period. In
short, the extraordinary contrast in style and matter, phraseology
and diction, between certain recipes and others, leads irresistibly
to the conclusion that the oldest recipes are separated from the
youngest by several centuries, and that the tract (as we possess it)
was not the work of one man, but of several. There is a kernel of old
recipes, to which others were added from time to time. This conclusion
receives strong support from the fact that no two of the MSS. are of
the same length. The Munich MS. contains twenty-two, Berthelot’s text
thirty-five, and the Nürnberg MS. twenty-five recipes.
The best judges date the oldest existing MSS., Paris, 7156 and 7158, at
about 1300 A.D., and Abd Allah tells us that saltpetre was known to the
Spanish Arabs in the second quarter of the thirteenth century.[138] The
saltpetre recipes, therefore, 12, 13, 14, 32, 33, lie between the years
1225 and 1300. We shall call them, for convenience of reference, the
“Late Recipes.”
No one who carefully studies the remaining recipes can fail to observe
that many of them are marked by archaism of style, form and matter, and
that they hand down to us ancient alchemical traditions, or traces of
them; while others display no such peculiarities. Let us then, again
for mere convenience, divide them into two series—the “Early Recipes,”
which possess these peculiarities, and the “Middle Recipes,” which do
not. To what periods do these two series belong?
No. 26, apparently the most modern of the Middle Recipes, will
presently be shown to belong to the early part of the thirteenth
century, and, as it does not contain saltpetre, its approximate date
is 1200-1225. There is no evidence, so far as I am aware, which would
enable us to fix the beginning of the Middle or the end of the Early
Recipes. The matter, happily, is immaterial; it is sufficient for us to
know that the former series is undoubtedly subsequent to the latter,
and (as will be shown) quite independent of it.
For a reason which will appear presently, the date of the oldest of the
Early Recipes depends upon the period at which Moslems began to write
upon alchemy. According to Arab authorities,[139] the first Moslem who
wrote on the subject was Prince Khalid ibn Yazeed ibn Moawyah, who died
in 708. After him came the real Jabir, of the eighth or ninth century;
but Masudi, in the tenth century, tells us that there were many other
writers on alchemy whose names are now lost.[140] The very earliest
date, then, that can be assigned to the oldest of the Early Recipes is
the eighth century, say 750.
The three series are as follows:—
+-------------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
| Early Recipes, | Middle Recipes, | Late Recipes, |
| 750- ? | ? -1225. | 1225-1300. |
| | | |
+-------------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
| 1, 2, 3 6, 7, 8, 9, 1O, | 4, 5, 11, 22, 24, | 12, 13, 14, 32, |
| 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, | 26, 27, 28, 29, | 33 |
| 21, 23, 25, 34 | 30, 31, 35 | |
+-------------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
Looking from the chemical point of view, M. Berthelot divides the
recipes into six groups.[141] Those who are interested in the matter
will find on examination that, chronologically, his groups harmonise
perfectly with the three series given here.
The reader will observe on a cursory examination of the Latin text that
most of the recipes contain foreign, _i.e._ non-Latin words; and this
fact suggests the question, Is the _Liber Ignium_ an original work or a
translation?
The number of foreign words and allusions is so considerable as to
leave little doubt that a large part of the tract was translated from
some foreign language, and no one, I believe, seriously maintains that
the work, as a whole, is original. From what language, then, has it
been translated?
We meet with the Greek proper names Hermes, Ptolemy, Alexander and
Aristotle, and with a number of Greek words which look like survivals
of a Greek original. Among the most prominent are alba ceraunia (?),
asphaltum,[142] bombax, cynoglossum (?), orichalcum and sarcocolla,
all of which are latinised Greek words. But on looking closely into
this evidence we find that it has very little weight. The Greek proper
names prove nothing. Hermes and Ptolemy became common property to
alchemists of all nationalities in the infancy of alchemy. Alexander
the Great’s extraordinary career excited universal wonder, and the many
and marvellous legends which grew round his name in the West were only
surpassed by those of the East. He and his Wazir, Aristu (Aristotle),
were common property long before the _Liber Ignium_ saw the light.
The Greek words give no support to the hypothesis of a Greek original
unless it can be shown either that they had not previously been adopted
by the Latins, or that the tract was written before they were borrowed.
A particular instance will make the matter clearer. We took the word
_harquebus_ from the French at some period, say _p_. If harquebus
occurs in an English book written after _p_, its presence raises no
presumption that the book was in any way connected with France, or
even that its author understood French. If the book was written before
_p_, its author must have had recourse, directly or indirectly, to
French sources. Now all the Greek words given above had been latinised
long before the _Liber Ignium_ was written, and might have been used by
a Latin when translating from any language. Alba ceraunia, asphaltum,
bombax, cynoglossum and sarcocolla are found in Pliny’s “Natural
History,” first century A.D., and orichalcum occurs in the “Bragging
Soldier” of Plautus about the end of the third century B.C. But it is
unnecessary to continue the examination of the Greek words contained
in the tract for the following reason. A hypothesis must cover all the
facts of a case, and some facts in the present case are inexplicable on
the theory of a Greek original.
The Greeks had three words for the asphalt family, _pissa_,
_asphaltos_, and _naphtha_; and the translator had at least three Latin
words (which he has actually used) wherewith to translate them, _pix_
(or _picula_), _asphaltum_, and _petroleum_. How, then, came he to use
the barbarism, _alkitran Græcum_, in recipe 1? The original of this
phrase came from no Greek source.
We could not expect the author of the tract to reveal the secret of the
sea-fire, which was only known to a few officials; but the mediæval
Greeks were not an exceptionally modest people, and we naturally
look for some slight allusion to this triumphant incendiary and the
siphons in which it was employed. They are never referred to, although
ballistæ, bows, and rockets are mentioned in recipes 10, 12, 13, 32, 33.
The title of the tract, _Liber Ignium, a Marco Græco descriptus_,
assuming it to have been correctly and literally translated, was not
written by a Byzantine Greek. No Byzantine Greek ever described himself
(or a compatriot) as a Greek: “in the lowest period of degeneracy and
decay the name of _Roman_ adhered to the last fragments of the Empire
of Constantinople.”[143] The writer of the title, therefore, was either
a Moslem or a western.
The author of recipe 26, _Ignem Græcum_, &c., was neither a Greek nor
a Moslem. No Greek[144] or Moslem[145] writer ever uses the phrase
“Greek fire,” which sprang up in the West during the Crusades.[146]
The recipe, therefore, cannot have been written before the siege of
Nice, 1097, the first act of the first crusade, and it was probably
not written until long afterwards. The phrase “Greek fire” must have
taken some time to reach the West, and it spread there very slowly.
Abbé Guibert de Nogent, who died in 1124, speaks of “discharging
from machines the fire they call Greek” (_Græcos, quos ita vocitant,
Ignes injicere machinis_).[147] At the close of the century William
the Little, Canon of St. Mary’s, Newburgh, Yorkshire, mentions “a
certain kind of fire which they call Greek “ (_quodam ignis genere
quem_ _Græcum dicunt_)[148] Such modes of expression show that Greek
fire was very little known in the West during the twelfth century.
In the _Liber Ignium_, on the other hand, it is spoken of without
qualification or explanation, like sulphur or pitch, as a substance
too well known to require note or comment. The 26th recipe, therefore,
belongs very probably to the first quarter of the thirteenth century,
and its author was certainly a western.
The hypothesis of a Greek original, then, must be abandoned, even
though old Greek alchemical traditions are crystallised in the Early
Recipes. The Greeks founded alchemy in remote times; their methods were
transmitted through the Syrians and Egyptian Greeks to the Moslems;
and a large number of their recipes had become common property long
before the _Liber Ignium_ was written. But Greek science did not spread
equally in all directions, at least to any appreciable extent. It
spread to the south and east only, and the west owed its knowledge of
alchemy to the Arabs who invaded Spain in 710 A.D. This fact may throw
some light upon the Arabic words and allusions to be found in the tract.
In a very old recipe, No. 9, we meet with the phrase, “the first fall
of the autumnal rain “ (_primo autumnalis pluviae dilapsu_), which
indicates the regular, periodic rains of the East, and is apparently
the translation of خريف (kharif) = the autumnal rains. The beginning
of these rains was an event of great importance to the Arabs. “Suivant
Masudi,” says Baron de Sacy, “les Arabes nomment l’automne وسمي
(_wasmy_), à cause des pluies qui tombent en cette saison, parceque
la terre, étant alors très-sèche, et n’ayant pas été humectée depuis
longtemps, la première pluie qui vient à tomber imprime sa marque sur
la terre.... Il ajoute que les Arabes commencent l’année à l’équinoxe
d’automne, parceque c’est l’époque où commence à tomber la pluie à
laquelle ils doivent leur subsistance.”[149]
_Alambicum_ is apparently the latinised form of the Spanish
_alambique_, which is simply the Arabic الانبيق (_al-ambiq_)—whatever
the derivation of the Arabic word may be.
استرلاب (_Asturlab_), although found in Masudi[150] and the “Arabian
Nights,”[151] is not a genuine Arab word. It was borrowed from some
other language by the Arabs, who possessed few or no scientific words
of their own. The “Nihayet al-Adab” tells us (in Lane’s “Arabic
Dictionary,” under _asturlab_) that the names of all instruments by
which time is known, whether by means of calculation or water or
sand, are foreign to the Arabic language. In most Arabic dictionaries
_asturlab_ is derived from the Greek ἀστρολάβος, a word which appears
to go back no further than the second century B.C., when it was
employed by the Egyptian astronomer, Ptolemy. But it was long suspected
that the instrument was of eastern origin,[152] and all doubt about
the matter was at length set at rest by Mr. George Smith’s discovery,
in the palace of Sennacherib at Nineveh, of the fragment of an
astrolabe,[153] which cannot be dated later than the eighth century
B.C. Now the earliest recorded astronomical observation made by the
Greeks was the determination of the summer solstice by Meton, 430
B.C.[154] For the name of this fragment, therefore, we must look to the
language of the country of its birth; and there we find the Persian
_asturlab_, which is apparently formed from the primitive verbal root
_labh_ = taking,[155] and the Persian _astar_ or _sitára_ = Pehlevi,
_çtârak_ = Zend, _çtare_ = Sanskrit, _star_ = our own _star_. The Arabs
most probably took their _asturlab_, with so many other words, from
the Persian. The Greeks who followed Alexander the Great into Persia
found there much that was new to them. They saw for the first time
“the cotton tree and the fine tissues and paper for which it furnished
the materials.”[156] They handled the wool of the great Bombax tree.
They found naphtha, of whose properties Alexander was entirely
ignorant.[157] They obtained drugs and gums of which they knew
nothing. The philosopher Kallisthenes discovered in Babylon Chaldæan
astronomical observations extending back to 721 B.C.;[158] was shown,
we cannot doubt, the instrument with which they were made; and probably
heard for the first time the word _asturlab_ or _usturlab_.
For copper (or some alloy of it[159]) the _cyprium_ of Pliny (which
became _cuprum_ about the end of the third century A.D.) is ignored in
the tract, and the metal is called _æs rubicundus_. This phrase may
possibly represent the χαλκὸς ἐρυθρός of Homer (Il. ix. 365); but it is
far more probably the literal translation of the Arabic phrase used to
this day for copper نحاس احمر (_nuhas ahmar_) = red brass.
Four (so-called) sulphurs are mentioned by both Pliny and the writers
of the _Liber Ignium_, but their names are identical in only one
case, _sulphur vivum_. Two sulphurs are named in the tract from their
colour, after the oriental fashion, _sulphur splendidum_ and _sulphur
croceum_. Masudi speaks in the tenth century of “white, yellow,
and other kinds of sulphur,”[160] and “white and red sulphur” are
mentioned in the _Ayin Acberi_, a Persian MS. quoted by the Baron de
Sacy.[161] Several sulphurs, all named from their colour, are given in
the _Liber Secretorum_, translated from the Arabic or Persian, _cir._
1000 A.D.,[162] and similar sulphurs are found in the Syriac treatise
reproduced by M. Berthelot, ii. 159-60. Finally, the Hindus had four
sulphurs, white, red, yellow, and black.[163]
The Arabs had no special word for bitumen: _bitumen_ is not to be found
in the tract.
_Alkitran_, the Spanish _alquitran_, which is used five times, is pure
Arabic, القطران (_al-qitran_).
In three successive recipes we meet an Arabic word in its native form,
without any attempt to translate it—زنبق (_zembaq_). Its meaning is
doubtful, for a reason given by Baron de Sacy: “Le nom zambak est
commun à plusieurs plantes. Forskål le donne à _l’iris_ et au _lis
blanc_.”[164]
We have already met with two Arabic words which were adopted unchanged,
and are still used, by the Spaniards, alembic and alkitran. There are
other traces of Spain.
Roger Bacon observes in his “Greek Grammar” (p. 92) that the alloy
_auricalcum_ is in no way connected with _aurum_, gold, but is a
corruption of _orichalcum_. The Spaniards, however, retained in their
language the corrupt form auricalco, and auricalcum occurs twice in the
tract.
We may gather from Lebrixa’s explanation of “bitumen Judaicum”—“est
quod græce dicitur asphaltos”[165]—that the Spaniards had no special
word for asphalt; _asphaltum_ is used only once in the tract, recipe
10. But they used _petroleo_ for petroleum;[166] _petroleum_ is found
in recipes 2, 10, and 26. This word, in the form _petra oleum_, is used
in the Anglo-Saxon “Leechdoms,” published in the Rolls Series, which
Rev. O. Cockayne, the editor, dates at 900; ii. 289. The Spaniards did
not use the word _naphtha_, which is described by Lebrixa as “el fuego
como de alquitran.” _Naphtha_ does not occur in the tract, although it
is found in Latin and Greek authors of the first and second centuries
A.D.; in Pliny’s “Natural History,” ii. 109 (105); in Dioskorides, i.
101; and in Plutarch’s “Alexander,” 35. It appears as _naphathe_ in
the “Speculum” of Vincentius Bellovacensis, 1228; _l._ i. _c._ 92.
The commonest Spanish word for one or other of the asphalt family,
_alquitran_, occurs (as before mentioned) five times in the tract.
On referring to the Chemical Index, p. 68, it will be found that all
the foregoing Arabic and Spanish words occur in the Early Recipes. The
Middle Recipes contain only one Arabic word, _alambic_, recipes 27 and
30, which is also found in the Early Recipes, No. 34; and one Spanish
word, _petroleo_, recipe 26, which occurs twice in the earlier series,
Nos. 2 and 10. Now, Spain was the only European country in which
Arabic was understood during the Middle Ages. “In all Europe, outside
Spain, but three isolated Arabists of that time are known—William of
Tyre, Philip of Tripoli, and Adelard of Bath.”[167] Pagnino printed
an edition of the Qur’an at Venice in 1530, and it was immediately
suppressed by the Church; “a precaution hardly required,” says Hallam,
“while there was no one able to read it.”[168] Furthermore, we know
that a series of Latin translations of Hebrew and Arabic MSS. were
made in Spain between the years 1182 and 1350.[169] We may therefore
conclude with some little probability:—
1°. That the Early Recipes were translated from a lost Arabic original.
2°. That the translator was a Spaniard.
3°. That the translation was made between the years 1182 and 1225.
4°. That to this translation were added by other hands, before 1225,
the Middle Recipes, which practically contain neither Hispanicism nor
Arabism, and which make no mention of saltpetre.
5°. That the Late Recipes were inserted towards the close of the
thirteenth century.[170]
On accepting these conclusions, the difficulties raised by the
hypothesis of a Greek original vanish. The Spanish translator had no
need to translate the _alkitran_ of the Arabic writer, for the word was
Spanish as well as Arabic. Like all westerns, he called the Byzantines
Greeks, and a certain incendiary Greek fire. Neither Moslem nor
Spaniard was likely to speak of the sea-fire. Moslems would be loth
to recall the disasters at Cyzicus and elsewhere, when this incendiary
made havoc of their ships; Spaniards knew nothing about it. Owing
to the secrecy maintained by the Imperial Government, westerns knew
very little about Byzantine pyrotechnics. “At the end of the eleventh
century the Pisans ... suffered the effects, without understanding the
cause, of the Greek fire.”[171] The Princess Anna Comnena ascribes the
defeat of the Pisans in a naval battle fought in 1103, to an unknown
incendiary employed by the Greeks.[172] In both cases the incendiary
could only have been the sea-fire, for the Latins had been acquainted
with ordinary incendiaries for a thousand years. As late as 1204, the
Emperor Baldwin I., in a manifesto to all Christians, declares that the
Greeks used “machines and defences to protect their capital (in this
year) which no one (from the West) had ever seen before.”[173]
It is time to inquire who was Marcus Græcus. He has been fancifully
identified with many of the Marci of history and fable, and M. Dutens
discovered him in the second century A.D. The views of M. Dutens must
be noticed here, because they have been unwarily adopted by some good
writers.
There exists a Latin translation of a lost Arabic treatise on medicine,
_De Simplicibus_, supposed by some to have been written by Masawyah of
Damascus in the eleventh century,[174] while others, with M. Dutens,
assign it to Yahya ibn Masawyah, who attended the Caliph Mamoun on
his deathbed,[175] 833 A.D. The question before us is, does the _De
Simplicibus_ (whatever its date) contain any reference to Marcus? When
mentioning the use of syrup of cyclamen, Masawyah quotes the opinions
of other physicians: “The son of Serapion said (so and so) ... and a
Greek (physician) says (so and so)” (_dixit filius Serapionis ... et
dicit Græcus_).[176] On the last two words, _dicit Græcus_, M. Dutens
builds his theory that the Greek physician was no other than Marcus:
“Ce qui paroît fort probable, est que (Marcus Græcus) devoit vivre
avant le médicin arabe, Mesué, qui a paru au commencement du neuvième
siècle, puisque celui-ci le cite.[177] By this mode of reasoning,
which is generally called “begging the question,” Marcus Græcus may be
identified at will with any Greek who ever lived. M. Dutens continues:
“Fabricius croit que (Marcus Græcus) est le même dont Galen parle dans
un endroit de ses ouvrages, au quel cas il serait du temps requis pour
appuyer mon sentiment.” It would be strange indeed to find mention of
a Latin writer or book in a _Bibliotheca Græca_, and I have failed to
verify M. Dutens’ reference. In the editions of Fabricius’ work which
I have consulted he expresses no such belief, nor does he allude to
Marcus Græcus. In the list Fabricius gives of ancient physicians there
are several who bear the name of Marcus, but no Marcus Græcus. The
last of these Marci happens to be simply called “Marcus,” and of him
Fabricius says: “This Marcus, who is mentioned by Galen in his book on
compounding medicines, may possibly have been one of the foregoing”
(_Marcus, simpliciter, Galeno in compositionibus medicamentorum_
κατὰ τόπους, _l._ iv. _c._ 7, _quem credibile fuisse unum ex illis
prioribus_).[178]
The _Liber Ignium_ was written from first to last in the period of
literary forgeries and pseudographs, which produced the “Book of
Hermes,” “The Domestic Chemistry of Moses,” the alchemical works of
Plato and of Aristotle and of the Emperor Justinian, and so on; and
we may reasonably conclude that Marcus Græcus is as unreal as the
imaginary Greek original of the tract which bears his name.
Had the last editor of the _Liber Ignium_, who added the saltpetre
receipts, any knowledge of an explosive?
We need not linger over the Roman candle of No. 12, or the rocket of
No. 13: had their charges been explosive there would have been an end
of the candle and rocket, and of the men who fired them. The cracker
of No. 13 was a toy intended to “go off with a bang,” without hurt to
the bystanders. The case was to be as strong as possible and securely
fastened at both ends with iron wires. It was to be half filled with
rocket composition, a mixture which burned in a cracker-case precisely
as it burned in a rocket-case—with progressive combustion. Now Roger
Bacon had a similar toy, constructed with the very same object, _i.e._
“to go off with a bang,” the case of which was “merely a bit of paper.”
Why was there this marked difference, then, between the two cases?
Because the noise was produced in the one by the explosion of the
charge and in the other by the rupture of the case. Bacon’s charge
(as will be shown in Chap. viii.) was gunpowder, and the required
“bang” was directly produced by its explosion. Marcus’ toy was charged
with an incendiary, the combustion of which did not produce a “bang”
directly, but which produced one indirectly by ultimately bursting
open the thick, stout case. The gases generated by its combustion
“gradually developed until the case burst,”[179] just as a bladder
bursts “with a bang” when over-inflated. Had Bacon’s toy been charged
with an incendiary, the case, which was only a sheet of paper, would
have been set on fire by the heated gases long before their pressure
had reached the bursting point, and there would have been no “bang.”
Had Marcus’ toy been charged with an explosive, it would have exploded
destructively, and what was intended for a public diversion would have
proved a common danger, owing to the thickness of the case and the
iron wire coiled round it. There is nothing in the tract to show that
its authors had any notion of explosives, and their silence, without
any assignable motive, is strong evidence that they knew nothing about
them. It is incredible that pyrotechnists who seldom omit to call
attention to the effects of their incendiaries,[180] should have failed
to make some allusion to explosives if they possessed them. Their
silence was not owing to fear of the Church, for the decree of the
Second Council of the Lateran was directed against the very mixtures
which form the staple of the _Liber Ignium_, incendiaries.[181] The
12th and 13th recipes contain the ingredients of the future gunpowder;
they form the last link in the long chain of evolution which connects
the incendiaries of primitive times with gunpowder; but they were not
gunpowder, because they did not explode. The chrysalis, we know, will
become a butterfly if it lives; nevertheless it would be an abuse of
language and a misrepresentation of fact to call it a butterfly.
The reader can now appreciate the value of the argument that the
Greeks possessed an explosive between the seventh and thirteenth
centuries, _because_ Marcus Græcus describes one; and he can understand
why Marcus was not summoned in Chap. iii. to give evidence for the
Greeks.
A suspicion may be raised by the Arabic origin of the _Liber Ignium_,
that the people who approached so nearly to the manufacture of
gunpowder may have ultimately reached it. We pass, therefore, to a
consideration of Arabic incendiaries in the following chapter.