CHAPTER XVII

THE RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT AND SIMON MAGUS
The Pseudo-Clementines — Was Rufinus the sole medieval version? • — Previous Greek versions — Date of the original version — Internal evi- dence— Resemblances to Apuleius and Philostratus — Science and re- ligion— Interest in natural science — God and nature — Sin and nature — Attitude to astrology — Arguments against genethlialogy — The virtuous Seres — Theory of demons — Origin of magic — Frequent accusations of magic — Marvels of magic — How distinguish miracle from magic? — Deceit in magic — Murder of a boy — Magic is evil — Magic is an art — Other accounts of Simon Magus : Justin Martyr to Hippolytus — Peter's account in the Didascalia et Constitutiones Apostolorum — Arnobius, Cyril, and Philastrius — Apocryphal Acts of Peter and Paul — An ac- count ascribed to Marcellus — Hegesippus — A sermon on Simon's fall — Simon Magus in medieval art.
"The Truth herself shall receive thee a wanderer and a stranger, and enroll thee a citizen of her own city."
— Recognitions I, 13.
The The starting-point and chief source for this chapter will
Ckmen^ be the writings known as the Pseudo-Clementines and more tines. particularly the Latin version commonly called The Recog-
nitions. We shall then note other accounts of its villain- hero, Simon Magus, in patristic literature.^ The Pseudo-
*Text of The Recognitions \n Migne, PG, I ; of The Homilies in PG, II, or P. de Lagarde, Clem- entina, 1865. E. C. Richardson had an edition of The Recog- nitions in preparation in 1893, when a list of some seventy MSS communicated by him was pub- lished in A. Harnack's Gesch. d. altchr. Lit., I, 229-30, but it has not yet appeared. In quoting The Recognitions I often avail myself of the language of the English translation in the Ante-Nicene Fathers.
Since A. Hilgenf eld. Die klement. Rekogn. u. Homilien, 1848, the Pseudo-Clementines have pro- vided a much frequented field of research and controversy, of which the articles in CE, EB, and Realencyklop'ddie (1913), XXIII, 312-6, provide fairly recent sum- maries from varying ecclesiastical standpoints. For bibliography see pp. 4-5 in the recent monograph of W. Heintze, Der Klemensro- m,a'n mid seine griechischen Quel- len, 1914, in TU, XL, 2. In the same series, TU, XXV, 4, H
400
CHAP. XVII l-t^£* RECOGNITIONS AND SIMON MAGUS 401
Clementines, as the name implies, are works or different versions of one work ascribed to Clement of Rome, who is represented as writing to James, the brother of the Lord, an account of events and discussions in which he and the apostle Peter had participated not long after the crucifixion. This Pseudo-Clementine literature has a double character, combining romantic narrative concerning Peter, Simon Magus, and the family of Clement with long, argumentative, didactic, and doctrinal discussions and dialogues in which the same persons participate but Peter takes the leading and most authoritative part. Not only the authorship, origin, and date, but even the title or titles and the make-up and arrangement of the various versions and their original are doubtful or disputed matters. The versions now extant and published seem by no means to have been the only ones, but we will describe them first. In Greek we have the ver- sion known as The Homilies in twenty books, in which the didactic element preponderates. It is extant in only two manuscripts of the twelfth and fourteenth centuries at Paris and Rome,^ but is also preserved in part in epitomes. Dif- ferent from it is the Latin version in which the narrative element plays a greater part.
This Latin version, now usually referred to as The Rec- Was ognitions, because the main point in its plot is the successive the sole
bringing together again of, and recognition of one another medieval ° ° version ?
by, the members of a family long separated, is the trans- lation made by Rufinus, who is last heard from in 410. It is usually divided into ten books. Numerous manuscripts of this version attest its popularity and influence in the mid- dle ages, when we early find Isidore of Seville quoting
Waitz, Die Pseudo-Klementinen, origine Pseudo-Clementinorum,
1904- Diss, inaug., Warsaw, 1866; G. R.
Concerning Simon Magus may S. Mead (Fellow of the Theo-
be mentioned: H. Schlurick, De sophical Society), Simon Magus,
Simonis Magi fatis Romanis; A. 1892; H. Waitz, Simon Magus in
Hilgenfeld, Der Magier Simon, in d. altchr. Lit., in Zeitschr. f. d.
Zeitschr. f. wiss. Thcol., XII neutest. IViss., V (1904), 121-43. (1869), 353 ff-; G. Frommberger, ' BN, Greek, 930; Ottobon, 443.
De Sitnone Mago, Pars I, De
402 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
Clement several times as an authority on natural science.^ Arevalus, however, thought that Isidore used some other version of the Pseudo-Clementines than that of Rufinus,^ and in the medieval period another title was common, namely, The Itinerary of Clement, or The Itinerary of Peter.^ WiUiam of Auvergne, for instance, in the first half of the thirteenth century cites the Itinerarium dementis or "Book of the disputations of Peter against Simon Magus." * This Itinerary of Clement also heads the list of works condemned as apocryphal by Pope Gelasius at a synod at Rome in 494,^ a list reproduced by Vincent of Beauvais in his Speculum naturale in the thirteenth century ^ and in the previous cen- tury rather more accurately by Hugh of St. Victor in his Didascalicon.'^ In all three cases the full title is given in practically the same words, "The Itinerary by the name of the Apostle Peter which is called Saint Clement's, an apocryphal work in eight books." ® Here we encounter a difficulty, since as we have said The Recognitions are in ten books. We find, however, that in another passage ^ Vin- cent correctly cites the ninth book of The Recognitions as Clement's ninth book, and that the number of books into which The Recognitions is divided varies in the manu- scripts, and that they, too, more often call it The Itinerary of Clement or even apply other designations. Rabanus Maurus in the ninth century quotes an utterance of the apostle Peter from The History of Saint Clement, but the passage is found in The Recognitions.^^ Vincent of Beauvais also
* Isidore, De natura rerum, * Vincent of Beauvais, 5'/'ecM^Mfw
caps, xxxi, xxxvi, xxxix-xli (PL, naturale, 1485, I, 14.
83, 1003-12). ■'PL, 176, 787-8, Erudit. Didasc,
'PL, 83, 1003, note, "Sunt haec IV, 15.
lib. VIII Recognitionum sed ap- * "Itinerarium nomine Petri
paret Isidoruni alia interpretatione apostoli quod appellatur sancti
usum ac dubitare posse an ea quae Clementis libri octo apocryphum
circumfertur Rufini sit." (or, apocryphi)."
'See CU, Trinity 1041, 14th ^Speculum naturale, XXXII,
century, fols. 7-105, "Inc. pro- 129, concerning the morality of
logus in librum quern moderni the Seres,
itinerarium beati Petri vocant." " Compare Recognitions, I, 27
*Valois (1880), p. 204. (PG, I, 122) with Rabanus, Com-
'PL, 59, 162, "Notitia librorum ment. in Genesim, I, 2 (PL, 107,
apocryphorum qui non recipiun- 450). tur."
XVII THE RECOGNITIONS AND SIMON MAGUS
403
quotes "the blessed apostle Peter in a certain letter attached to The Itinerary of Clernent." No letter by Peter is pre- faced to the printed text of The Recognitions, nor does Ru- finus mention such a letter, although he does speak in his preface of a letter by Clement which he has already trans- lated elsewhere. Prefixed to the printed Homilies, how- ever, and in the manuscripts found also with The Recog- nitions, are letters of Peter and Clement respectively to James. But the passage quoted by Vincent does not occur in either, but comes from the tenth book of The Recogni- tions} It would seem, therefore, despite variations in the number of books and in the arrangement of material, that the Latin version by Rufinus was the only one current in the middle ages, but we cannot be sure of this until all the ex- tant manuscripts have been more carefully examined.^
The version by Rufinus differed from previous ones not Previous only in being in Latin but also in various omissions which yerTions. he admits he made and perhaps other changes to suit it to his Latin audience. That there was already more than one version in Greek he shows in his preface by describing an- other text than that upon which his translation or adaptation was based. Neither of these two Greek texts appears to have been the same as the present Homilies.^ Yet The Homilies were apparently in existence at that time, since a Syriac manuscript of 411 A. D. contains four books of The Homilies and three of The Recognitions,'^ thus in itself
* Speculum naturale, I, 7. Peter is represented as saying, "When anyone has derived from divine Scripture a sound and firm rule of truth, it will not be absurd if to the assertion of true dogma he joins something from the educa- tion and liberal studies which he may have pursued from boyhood. Yet so that in all points he teaches what is true and shuns what is false and pretense." This corre- sponds to the close of the 42nd chapter of the tenth book of The Recognitions.
' Since writing this I learn that Professor E. C. Richardson has
examined most of the known MSS of The Recognitions and has found them all to be the version by Rufinus, except for a few addi- tional chapters which someone has added in the French group of MSS, — chapters which Rufinus seems to have omitted because they were difficult to translate.
^ Heintze (1914), 23, however, argues that the conclusion of The Recognitions is dependent upon The Homilies.
* Professor E. C. Richardson, after kindly reading this chapter in manuscript, writes me (Sept. 5, 1921) that he doubts if this Syriac
404 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
furnishing an illustration of the ease with which new ver- sions might be compounded from old. Both The Homilies and The Recognitions as they have reached us would seem to be confusions and perversions of this sort, as their inci- dents are obviously not arranged in correct order. For in- stance, when the story of The Recognitions begins Christ is still alive and reports of His miracles are reaching Rome ; the same year Barnabas pays a visit to Rome and Clement almost immediately follows him back to Syria, making the passage from Rome to Caesarea in fifteen days;^ but on his arrival there he meets Peter who tells him that "a week of years" have elapsed since the crucifixion and of other in- tervening events involving a considerable lapse of time. Or again, in the third book of The Recognitions Simon is said to have sunk his magical paraphernalia in the sea and gone to Rome, but as late as the tenth and last book we find him still in Antioch and with enough paraphernalia left to trans- form the countenance of Faustus. Date Yet this late and misarranged version on which Rufinus
°^.^^^ , bases his text must have been already in existence for some
original _ -^
version. time, since he confesses that he has been a long while about his translation. The virgin Sylvia who "once enjoined it upon" him to "render Clement into our language" is now spoken of as "of venerable memory," and it is to Bishop Gaudentius that Rufinus "after many delays" in his old age "at length" presents the work. We might thus infer that the original and presumably more self-consistent Pseudo- Clementine narrative, which Rufinus evidently does not use, must date back to a much earlier period. We hear from other sources of The Circuits or Periodoi of Peter by Clem- ent, but this may have been the version translated by Ru-
MS is correctly described as three forms in Greek, and there are cer-
books of The Recognitions and tainly other oriental compilations
four books of The Homilies, and not yet brought into comparison
that he thinks it may represent an with the Greek, Latin, and Syriac
earlier form in the evolution than forms."
either of them. He writes further, ^ In The Homilies it is a trip
"I have a strong notion that a only from Alexandria to Caesarea
study of Greek MSS of the Epi- that consumes this number of
tomes will reveal still more variant days.
evidence.
XVII THE RECOGNITIONS AND SIMON MAGUS 405
finus.^ Conservative Christian scholars regard as the old- est unmistakable allusion to the Pseudo-Clementines that by Eusebius early in the fourth century, who, without giving any specific titles, speaks of certain "verbose and lengthy writings, containing dialogues of Peter forsooth and Apion," which are ascribed to Clement but are really of recent origin. As for the date of the original work from which Homilies and Recognitions are derived,^ from 200 to 280 A. D. is sug- gested by Harnack and his school, who take middle ground between the extreme contentions of Hilgenfeld and Chap- man. But the original Pseudo-Clement is supposed to have utilized The Teachings of Peter and The Acts of Peter, which Waitz would date between 135 and 210 A. D.^
The work itself, even in the perverted form preserved Internal by Rufinus, makes pretensions to the highest Christian an- tiquity. Not only is it addressed to James and put into the mouth of Clement, but Paul is never mentioned, and no book of the New Testament is cited by name, while sayings of Jesus are cited which are not found in the Bible. Christ is often alluded to in a veiled and mystic fashion as "the true prophet," who had appeared aforetime to Abraham and Moses, and interesting and vivid incidental glimpses are given of what purports to be the life of an early Christian community and perhaps is that of the Ebionites, Essenes, or some Gnostic sect. Emphasis is laid upon the purifying power of baptism, upon Peter's practice of bathing early every morning, preferably in the sea or running water, upon secret prayers and meetings, a separate table for the initi- ated, esoteric discussions of religion at cock-crow and in the night, and upon power over demons. All this may be mere clever invention, but there certainly is an atmosphere of verisimilitude about it; and it is rather odd that a later
^ About 375 A.D. Epiphanius Gregory, cites a passage on as-
(Dindorf, II, 107-9) describes The trology from the fourteenth book
Circuits in such a way that he of The Circuits which is in the
might have either The Homilies or tenth book of The Recognitions
The Recognitions in mind. On the and not in The Homilies at all,
other hand, the Philocalia, com- ^ Heintze (1914), p. 113.
posed about 358 by BasU ^nd 'Waitz (1904), pp. 151 and 243.
4o6
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
Resem- blances to Apuleius and Phi- lostratus.
writer should be "very careful to avoid anachronisms," in whose account as it now stands are such glaring chronologi- cal confusions as those already noted concerning Clement's voyage to Caesarea and Simon's departure for Rome. But, as in the case of the New Testament Apocrypha, the exact date of composition makes little difference for our purpose, for which it is enough that the Pseudo-Clementines played an important part in the first thirteen centuries of Christian thought viewed as a whole. Eusebius and Epiphanius may find them unpalatable in certain respects and reject them as heretical, but Basil and Gregory utilize their arguments against astrology. Gelasius may classify them as apocry- phal, but Vincent of Beauvais justifies a discriminating use of the apocryphal books in general and cites this one in particular more than once as an authority, and the incidents of its story were embodied, as we shall see, in medieval art. The same resemblance to the works of Apuleius and Philostratus that we noted in the case of an apocryphal gos- pel is observable in the Pseudo-Clementines. We see in The Recognitions the same mixed interest in natural science and in magic combined with religion and romantic incident that characterized the variegated and motley page of the author of the Metamorphoses and the biographer of Apollonius of Tyana. It is probably only a coincidence that two of the works of Apuleius are dedicated to a Faustinus whom he calls "my son," while Clement's father is named Faustus or Faustinianus, and the legend of Faust is believed to orig- inate with him and the episodes in which he is concerned.-^ Less accidental may be the connection between Peter's re- ligious sea-bathing and that purification in the sea by which the hero of the Metamorphoses began the process by which he succeeded in regaining his lost human form. More con- siderable are the detailed parallels to the work of Philps- tratus.^ Peter corresponds roughly to Apollonius and Clem-
* See E. C. Richardson in Papers of the American Society of Church History, VI (1894).
' Neither Philostratus nor Apol- lonius of Tyana is mentioned, however, in the index of W,
XVII THE RECOGNITIONS AND SIMON MAGUS 4^7
ent to Damis, while the wizards and magi are ably personi- fied by the famous Simon Magus. If Apollonius abstained from all meat and wine and wore linen garments, Peter lives upon "bread alone, with olives, and seldom even with pot- herbs; and my dress," he says, "is what you see, a tunic with a pallium : and having these, I require nothing more." ^ Like Philostratus the Pseudo-Clement speaks of bones of enormous size which are still to be seen as proof of the ex- istence of giants in former ages; ^ and the accounts of the Brahmans and allusions to the Scythians in the Life of Apollonius of Tyana are paralleled in The Recognitions by a series of brief chapters on these and other strange races.' Peter is, of course, a Jew, not a Hellene like Apollonius, but in his train are men who are thoroughly trained in Greek philosophy and capable of discussing its problems at length. They also are not without appreciation of pagan art and turn aside, with Peter's consent, to visit a temple upon an island and "to gaze earnestly" upon "the wonderful col- umns" and "very magnificent works of Phidias." ^ Just as Apollonius knew all languages without having ever studied them, so Peter is so filled with the Spirit of God that he is "full of all knowledge" and "not ignorant even of Greek learning" ; but to descend from his usual divine themes to discuss it is considered to be rather beneath him. Clement, however, felt the need of coaching Peter up a little in Greek mythology.^ This mingled attitude of contempt for "the babblings of the Greeks" when compared to divine revela- tion, and of respect for Greek philosophy when compared with anything else is, it is hardly necessary to say, a very- common one with Christian writers throughout the Rom^an Empire.
The same attitude prevails toward natural science. At Science the very beginning of the Clementines the curiosity of the religion.
Heintze's Dcr Klemensroman und in the corresponding chapter of
seine griechischen Quellen (1914), The Homilies. VIII, 15.
144 pp. ^ Recogs., IX, 19-29.
^Recogs.,Vll,6. * Recogs., Yll, 12.
^ Recogs., I, 29; not mentioned * Recogs., X, 15, et seq.
4o8
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
fnterest
in natural science.
ancient world in regard to things of nature is shown by the question which someone propounded to Barnabas when he began to preach, at Rome according to The Recognitions, at Alexandria according to The Homilies, of the Son of God. The heckler wanted to know why so small a creature as a fly has not only six feet but wings in addition, while the elephant, despite its enormous bulk, has only four feet and no wings at all. Barnabas did not answer the question, al- though he asserted that he could if he wished to, making the excuse that it was not fitting to speak of mere creatures to those who were still ignorant of their Creator.^
This unwillingness to discuss natural questions by no means continues characteristic of the Clementines, however. Not only does Peter explain to Clement the creation of the world and propound the extraordinary ^ doctrine that after completing the process of creation God "set an angel as chief over the angels, a spirit over the spirits, a star over the stars, a demon over the demons, a bird over the birds, a beast over the beasts, a serpent over the serpents, a fish over the fishes," and "over men a man who is Christ Jesus. ^ Not only does he later in public defend baptism with water on the ground that "all things are produced from waters" and that waters were first created.* We also find Niceta accepting the Greek hypothesis of four elements, of the sphericity of the universe, and of the motions of the heav- enly bodies "assigned to them by fixed laws and periods," cit- ing Plato's Timaeus, mentioning Aristotle's introduction of a fifth element,^ disputing the atomic theory of Epicurus,^ and alluding to "mechanical science." "^ He further dis- cusses the generation of plants, animals, and human beings as evidences of divine design and providence,^ in which con- nection he collects a number of examples of marvelous gen-
* Recogs., I, 8; Homilies, I, lo.
' Extraordinary, of course, only in that single animals instead of angels, as in the Enoch literature, are set over birds, beasts, serpents, etc.
' Recogs., I, 27 and 45. * Recogs., VI, 8. 'Recogs., VIII, 9, 20-22. ^Recogs., VIII, 15-17. "Recogs., VIII, 21. "Recogs., VIII, 25-32.
XVII THE RECOGNITIONS AND SIMON MAGUS 409
eration of animals such as moles from earth and vipers from ashes, and affirms that "the crow conceives through the mouth and the weasel generates through the ear." ^ Simon Magus declared himself immortal on the theory, which we shall find cropping out again in the thirteenth century in Roger Bacon and Peter of Abano, that his flesh was "so compacted by the power of his divinity that it can endure to eternity." ^ On the other hand, Niceta describes the ac- tion of the intestines in a fairly intelligent manner,^ and tells how the blood flows like water from a fountain, "and first borne along in one channel, and then spreading through in- numerable veins as through canals, irrigates the entire ter- ritory of the human body with vital streams." ■* A little later on Aquila gives a natural explanation of rainbows.^
There is noticeable, it is true, a tendency, common in God and patristic literature and found even among those fathers who "^^"'^^• hold the dualism of the Manichees in the deepest detesta- tion, to make a distinction between God and nature and to attribute any flaws in the universe to the latter.® Niceta cannot agree with "those who speak of nature instead of God and declare that all things were made by nature" ; he holds that God created the universe. But Aquila, who sup- ports his brother in the discussion, seems to think that God's responsibility for the universe ceased, at least in part, after it was once created. At any rate he admits that "in this world some things are done in an orderly and some in a dis- orderly fashion. Those things therefore," he continues, "that are done rationally, believe that they are done by Prov- idence ; but those that are done irrationally and inordinately, believe that they befall naturally and happen accidentally." '''
But even nature sometimes rises up against the sins of Sin and mankind according to Peter and his associates, Aquila be-
^On the other hand, in the * Recogs.,ll, y.
apocryphal Epistle of Barnabas, ' Recogs., VIII, 31.
IX, 9, it is stated that the weasel * Recogs., VIII, 30.
conceives with its mouth and '^ Recogs., VIII, 42.
hence typifies persons with un- ' Recogs., VIII, 34,
clean mouths. ' Recogs., VIII, 44.
4IO MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
lieves that the sins of men are the cause of pestilences;^ that "when chastisement is inflicted upon men according to the will of God, he" (i. e. the Sun, already called "that good servant" and whom the early Christians found it difficult to cease to personify) "glows more fiercely and burns up the world with more vehement fires" ; ^ and that "those who have become acquainted with prophetic discourse know when and for what reason blight, hail, pestilence, and such like have occurred in every generation, and for what sins these have been sent as a punishment." ^ Peter gives the impres- sion that nature sometimes acts rather independently of God in thus punishing the wicked. He says : "But this also I would have you know, that upon such souls God does not take vengeance directly, but His whole creation rises up and inflicts punishments upon the impious. And although in the present world the goodness of God bestows the light of the world and the services of the earth alike upon the pious and the impious, yet not without grief does the Sun afford his light and the other elements perform their services to the impious. And, in short, sometimes even in opposition to the goodness of the Creator, the elements are worn out by the crimes of the wicked ; and hence it is that either the fruit of the earth is blighted, or the composition of the air is vitiated, or the heat of the sun is increased beyond measure, or there is an excess of rain or cold." * This is a close approach to the notion of The Book of Enoch that human sin upsets the world of nature, and an even closer approach to the theory of the Brahmans in The Life of Apollonius of Tyana that prolonged drought is a punishment visited by the world-soul upon human sinfulness. Attitude Such vestiges of the world-soul doctrine, such a tend-
trology. ^^^y ^^ ascribe emotion and will to the elements and planets, to personify them, and to think of God as ruling the world indirectly through them, prepare us to find an attitude rather favorable to astrological theory. Indeed, in the first book
^Recogs., VIII, 45. * Recogs., VIII, 47.
'Recogs.. VIII, 46. * Recogs., V, 27,
XVII THE RECOGNITIONS AND SIMON MAGUS 4"
of The Recognitions ^ we are told in so many words that the Creator adorned the visible heaven with stars, sun, and moon in order that "they might be for an indication of things past, present, and future," and that these celestial signs, while seen by all, are "understood only by the learned and intelligent." Astrology is respectfully described as "the science of mathesis," ^ and, as was common in the Roman Empire, astrologers are called mathematici.^ A de- fender even of the most extreme pretensions of the art is not abused as a charlatan but is courteously greeted as "so learned a man," * and all admire his eloquence, grave man- ners, and calm speech, and accord him a respectful hearing.^ Astrology, far from being regarded as necessarily contrary to religion, is thought to furnish arguments for the exist- ence of God, and it is said that Abraham, "being an astrolo- ger, was able from the rational system of the stars to recog- nize the Creator, while all other men were in error, and understood that all things are regulated by His Provi- dence."'® The number seven is somewhat emphasized '^ and the twelve apostles are called the twelve months of Christ who is the acceptable year of the Lord.^ Somewhat simi- larly the Gnostic followers of the heretic Valentinus made much of the Duodecad, a group of twelve aeons, and be- lieved, according to Irenaeus, "that Christ suffered in the twelfth month. For their opinion is that He continued to preach for one year only after His baptism." ^ Peter, too, has a group of twelve disciples. ^*^ Niceta speaks of "man who is a microcosm in the great world." ^^ It is admitted that the stars exert evil as well as good influence,^ ^ and that the astrologer "can indicate the evil desire which malign
^ Recogs., I, 28. ' Recogs., I, 32.
' Recogs., VIII, 57, "f rater meus ^Recogs., I, 21, 43, 72.
Clemens tibi diligentius responde- 'Recogs., IV, 35.
bit qui plenius scientiam mathesis " Irenaeus, I, 3.
attigit; IX, 18, "quoniam quidem ^'' Recogs., Ill, 68.
scientia mihi mathesis nota est." ^Recogs., VIII, 28, "qui eat
'Recogs., X, 11-12. parvus in aHo mundus."
-Recogs., IX, 18. "Recogs., VIII, 45.
'Recogs., VIII, 2.
412 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
virtue produces." -^ But it is contended that, "possessing freedom of the will, we sometimes resist our desires and sometimes yield to them," and that no astrologer can pre- dict beforehand which course we will take. Argu- In fine, astrology is criticized adversely only when it
against &o^s to the length of contending that "there is neither any genethli- God, nor any worship, neither is there any Providence in the world, but all things are done by fortuitous chance and genesis"; that "whatever your genesis contains, that shall befall you" ; ^ and that the constellations force men to commit murder, adultery, and other crimes.^ On this point Niceta and Aquila, and finally Clement himself, have long discus- sions with an aged adept in genethlialogy which fill a large portion of the last three books of The Recognitions, and include a dozen chapters which are little more than an ex- tract from The Laws of Countries of Bardesanes. Divine Providence and human free will are defended, and genethlialogy is represented as an error which has received confirmation through the operations of demons.^ It is asserted that men can be kept from committing crimes by fear of punishment and by law, even if they are naturally so inclined, and races like the Seres (Chinese) and Brahmans are adduced as examples of entire races of men who never commit the crimes into which men are supposed to be forced by the constellations. The argument is also advanced, "Since God is righteous and since He Himself made human nature, how could it be that He should place genesis in opposition to us, which should compel us to sin, and then that He should punish us when we do sin ?" ^ It is further charged that the constellations are so complicated,
^ Recogs., X, 12. In Homilies, Homilies, however, Peter argues
XIV, 5, the existence of astrologi- that, even if Genesis prevails,
cal medicine is implied wlien which he does not admit, still he
Peter promises to cure by prayer can "worship Him who is also
to God any bodily ill, even "if it is Lord of the stars," and that the
utterly incurable and entirely be- doctrine of genesis is far more
yond the range of the medical destructive to polytheism and
profession — a case, indeed, which pagan worship,
not even the astrologers profess to " Recogs., IX, 16-17.
cure." * Recogs., IX, 6 and 12.
'Recogs., VIII, 2. In The " Recogs., IX, 30.
XVII THE RECOGNITIONS AND SIMON MAGUS 413
that for any given moment one astrologer may infer a favor- able and another a disastrous influence/ and that most suc- cessful explanations of the effects of the stars are made after the event, like dreams of which men can make nothing at the time, but "when any event occurs, then they adapt what they saw in the dream to what has occurred." ^ Finally the aged defender of genesis, who believed that his own fate and that of his wife had been accurately prescribed by their horoscopes, turns out to be Faustinianus (called Faustus in The Homilies) , the long-lost father of Clement, Niceta, and Aquila; is also restored to his wife; and learns that his previous interpretation of events from the stars was quite erroneous.^
The ideal picture of the Seres or Chinese, "who dwell The at the beginning of the world," which The Recognitions Seres, apparently borrows from Bardesanes, is perhaps worth re- peating here as an odd admission that a non-Christian peo- ple can attain a state of moral perfection and sinlessness, as well as an interesting bit of ancient ethnology. "In all that country which is very large there is neither temple nor image nor harlot nor adulteress, nor is any thief brought to trial. But neither is any man ever slain there. . . . For this reason they are not chastened with those plagues of which we have spoken; they live to extreme old age, and die without sickness." ^ Perhaps these virtuous Seres are the blameless Hyperboreans in another guise.
Demons and angels abound in The Recognitions. One Theory of may be rebuked and scourged at night by an angel of God.^ Peter says that every nation has an angel, since God has divided the earth into seventy-two sections and appointed an angel as governor and prince of each.^ Once, before be- ginning to preach, Peter expelled demons from a number of persons in the audience.''' In another passage is described the cure of a girl of twenty-seven who for twenty years
^ Recogs., X, 11. ' Recogs., X, 66.
'Recogs., X, 12. ' Recogs., II, 42.
' Recogs.j IX, 32-7. ^ Recogs., IV, 7.
*Recogs., IX, 19, and VIII, 48.
414 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
had been vexed by an unclean spirit and had been shut up in a closet in chains because of her violence and superhuman strength. The mere presence of Peter put this demon to rout and the chains fell off the girl of their own accord.^ Besides these personal encounters with demons, the theory of demoniacal possession is discussed more than once, and anything of which the author does not approve, such as the art of horoscopes, heathen oracles, the excesses of pagan rites and festivals, and the animal gods of the Egyptians, is attributed to the influence of demons.^ One becomes sus- ceptible to demoniacal possession who eats meat sacrificed to idols or who merely eats and drinks immoderately.^ Demons are apt to get into the very bowels of those who frequent drunken banquets.^ Incontinence, too, is accom- panied by demons whose "noxious breath" produces *'an intemperate and vicious progeny. , . . And therefore par- ents are responsible for their children's defects of this sort, because they have not observed the law of intercourse." '^ As much care should be taken in human generation as in the sowing of crops. But while demons abound, God has given every Christian power over them, since they may be driven out by uttering "the threefold name of blessedness." ^ More- over, "what is spoken by the true God, whether by prophets or varied visions, is always true; but what is foretold by demons is not always true." "^ Origin of With demons is associated the origin of the magic art.
"Certain angels .. . . taught men that demons could be made to obey man by certain arts, that is, by magical invoca- tions." ^ The first magicians were Ham and his son Mes- raim, from whom the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Assyrians are descended, and who tried to draw sparks from the stars ® but set himself on fire "and was consumed by the demon
* Recogs., IX, 38. ' Recogs., IV, 21. *Recogs., IX, 6 and 12; IV, 21; "Recogs.. IV, 26.
V, 20 and 31. ' "Reminding one of Benjamin
'Recogs., II, 71; IV, 16. Franklin's more successful at-
* Recogs., IV, 30. tempt to "snatch the thunderbolt '^Recogs., IX, 9. from heaven."
* Recogs., IV, 32-33.
I nagic.
XVII THE RECOGNITIONS AND SIMON MAGUS 415
whom he had accosted with too great importunity." ^ But on this account he was called Zoroaster or "living star" after his death. Moreover, the magic art did not perish but was transmitted to Nimrod "as by a flash." ^ With this may be compared the slightly different account of the origin of magic given by Epiphanius in the Panarion, written about 374-375 A. D. Magic is older than heresy and was already in existence before the time of Ham or Mesraim in the antediluvian days of Jared, when it coexisted with "phar- macy," a term here used to cover sorcery and poisoning-, licentiousness, adultery, and injustice. After the flood Epiphanius mentions Nimrod (NejSpcbS) as the first tyrant and the inventor of the evil disciplines of astrology and magic. He states that the Greeks incorrectly confuse him with Zoroaster whom they regard as the founder of magic and astrology. According to Epiphanius, "pharmacy" and magic passed from Egypt to Greece in the time of Cecrops.^
In The Recognitions everyone. Christian, heretic, pagan. Frequent and philosopher, condemns or professes to condemn magic, accusa- and reference is made to the laws of the Roman emperors magic, against it.* But Christians, pagans, and heretics, while claiming divine power and protection for themselves, freely accuse one another of the practice of magic. An unnamed person, by whom Paul is perhaps meant, stirs up the people of Jerusalem to persecute the apostolic community there as "most miserable men, who are deceived by Simon, a magician." ^ The guards at the sepulcher, unable to pre- vent the resurrection, said that Jesus was a magician, a charge which is repeated by one of the scribes and by Simon Magus. Simon also calls Peter a magician on more than one occasion.® Peter, of course, makes similar charges against Simon; he had been especially sent by James to Caesarea in order to refute this magician who was giving himself out to be the Stans or Christ.'^ The gods of Greek
^Recogs., IV, 2y, and I, 30. *Recogs., IV, 29. •Dindorf, I, 282, 286-7. *Recogs., X. 55; III, 64.
' Rccogs., I, 70.
'Recogs., I, 42 and 58; III, 12, 47, and 73 ; X, 54. ' Recogs., I, 72.
4i6 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
mythology, too, are accused of having resorted to magic transformations and sorcery,^ Philosophy, however, es- capes the accusation of magic in The Recognitions,^ and it was a philosopher who deterred Clement, before the latter liad become a Christian, from his plan of investigating the problem of the immortality of the soul by hiring an Egyp- tian magician to evoke a soul from the infernal regions by the art of necromancy.^ The philosopher condemned such an attempt as unlawful, impious, and "hateful to the Divinity." * Marvels But while magic is condemned, its great powers are ad-
of magic, mitted. Simon Magus makes great boasts of the marvels which he can perform. These include becoming invisible, boring through rocks and mountains as if they were clay, passing through fire without being burned, flying through the air, loosing bonds and barriers, transformation into ani- mal shapes, animation of statues, production of new plants or trees in a moment, and growing beards upon little boys.^ He also asserted that he had formed a boy by turning air into water and the water into blood, and then solidifying this into flesh, a feat which he regarded as superior to the creation of Adam from earth. Later Simon unmade him and restored him to the air, "but not until I had placed his image and picture in my bedchamber as a proof and me- morial of my work.^ Not only does Simon himself make such boasts ; Niceta and Aquila, who had been his disciples before their conversion by Zaccheus, also bear witness to
^ Recogs., X, 22 and 25. sias.
' But by no means always in Necromancy is given as a proof
early Christian writings : thus of the immortality of the soul in
Clement of Alexandria (ciso- Justin's First Apology, cap. 18,
C220) in the Stromata, II, i, as- where we read, "For let even
serts that the Greeks eulogize necromancy, and the divinations
"astrology and mathematics and you practise by means of immacu-
magic and sorcery" as the highest late children, and the evoking of
sciences. departed human souls ... let
* In contrast to Lucian's Menip- these persuade you that even after pus or Necromancy, in which the death souls are in a state of sen- Cynic philosopher Menippus re- sation." sorts to a Magus at Babylon in * Recogs., I, 5. order to gain entrance to the ^Recogs., II, 9. lower world and question Teire- ° Recogs., II, 15.
XVII THE RECOGNITIONS AND SIMON MAGUS 417
his amazing feats. "Who would not be astonished at the wonderful things which he does? Who would not think that he was a god come down from heaven for the salvation of men?" ^ He can fly through the air, or so mingle him- self with fire as to become one body with it, he can make statues walk and dogs of brass bark. "Yea, he has also been seen to make bread of stones," ^ When Dositheus tried to beat Simon, the rod passed through his body as if it had been smoke.^ The woman called Luna who goes about with Simon was seen by a crowd to look out of all the windows of a tower at the same time,"* an illusion possibly produced by mirrors. When Simon fears arrest, he transforms the face of Faustinianus into the likeness of his own, in order that Faustinianus may be arrested in his place. ^
So great, indeed, are the marvels wrought by Simon How dis- and by magicians generally that Niceta asks Peter how they rniracie
may be distinguished from divine signs and Christian ^'"o"? ., . . . magic ?
miracles, and in what respect anyone sins who infers from
the similarity of these signs and wonders either that Simon Magus is divine or that Christ was a magician. Speaking first of Pharaoh's magicians, Niceta asks, "For if I had been there, should I not have thought, from the fact that the magicians did like things (to those which Moses did), either that Moses was a magician, or that the feats dis- played by the magicians were divinely wrought? . . . But if he sins who believes those who work signs, how shall it appear that he also does not sin who has believed on our Lord for His signs and occult virtues?" Peter's reply is that Simon's magic does not benefit anyone, while the Chris- tian miracles of healing the sick and expelling demons are performed for the good of humanity. To Antichrist alone among workers of magic will it be permitted at the end of the world to mix in some beneficial acts with his evil marvels. Moreover, "by this means going beyond his bounds, and
^ Recogs., II, 6. * Recogs., II, 12.
'^ Recogs., Ill, 57, "Recogs., X, 53, et seq.
^Recogs., II, 11.
4i8 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
being divided against himself, and fighting against himself, he shall be destroyed." ^ Later in The Recognitions, how- ever, Aquila states that even the magic of the present has found ways of imitating by contraries the expulsion of demons by the word of God, that it can counteract the poisons of serpents by incantations, and can effect cures "contrary to the word and power of God." He adds, "The magic art has also discovered ministries contrary to the angels of God, placing the evocation of souls and the fig- ments of demons in opposition to these." - Deceit in But while the marvels of magic are admitted, there is a
magic. feeling that there is something deceitful and unreal about
them. The teachings of the true prophet, we are told, "con- tain nothing subtle, nothing composed by magic art to de- ceive," ^ while Simon is "a deceiver and magician." "* Nor is he deceitful merely in his religious teaching and his op- position to Peter; even his boasts of magic power are partly false. Aquila, his former disciple, says, "But when he spoke thus of the production of sprouts and the perforation of the mountain, I was confounded on this account, because he wished to deceive even us, in whom he seemed to place con- fidence; for we knew that those things had been from the days of our fathers, which he represented as having been done by himself lately." ^ Moreover, not only does Simon deceive others; he is himself deceived by demons as Peter twice asserts : ^ "He is deluded by demons, yet he thinks that he sees the very substance of the soul." "Although in this he is deluded by demons, yet he has persuaded himself that he has the soul of a murdered boy ministering to him in whatever he pleases to employ it."
This story of having sacrificed a pure boy for purposes of magic or divination was a stock charge, which we have previously heard made against Apollonius of Tyana and which was also told of the early Christians by their
^Recogs., Ill, 57-60; X, 66. *Recogs., II, 5.
'Recogs., VIII, 53. ' Recogs., II, 10.
'Recogs., VIII, 60. 'Recogs., II, 16, and III, 49.
XVII THE RECOGNITIONS AND SIMON MAGUS 419
pagan enemies and of the Jews and heretics in the middle ages. Simon is said to have confessed to Niceta and Aquila, when they asked how he worked his magic, that he received assistance from "the soul of a boy, unsullied and violently slain, and invoked by unutterable adjurations." He went on to explain that "the soul of man holds the next place after God, when once it is set free from the darkness of the body. And immediately it acquires prescience, wherefore it is in- voked in necromancy." When Aquila asked why the soul did not take vengeance upon its slayer instead of perform- ing the behests of magicians, Simon answered that the soul now had the last judgment too vividly before it to indulge in vengeance, and that the angels presiding over -such souls do not permit them to return to earth unless "adjured by someone greater than themselves." ^ Niceta then indig- nantly interposed, "And do you not fear the day of judg- ment, who do violence to angels and invoke souls?" As a matter of fact, the charge that Simon had murdered or vio- lently slain a boy is rather overdrawn, since the boy in ques- tion was the one whom he had made from air in the first place and whom he simply turned back into air again, claim- ing, however, to have thereby produced an unsullied human soul. According to The HonCilies, however, he presently confided to Niceta and Aquila that the human soul did not survive the death of the body and that a demon really responded to his invocations.^
Nevertheless, the charge of murder thus made against Magic is Simon illustrates the criminal character here as usually as- ^^*'- scribed to magic. Simon is said to be "wicked above meas- ure," and to depend upon "magic arts and wicked devices," and Peter accuses him of "acting by nefarious arts." ^
^ Similarly, in a passage con- names of superior angels, who in
tained only in The Homilies, V, their turn may be adjured by the
5, Appion, recommending to Clem- name of God.
ent a love incantation which he * Concerning this boy see
had learned from an Egyptian Recogs., II, 13-15; III, 44-45;
who was well versed in magic, Homilies, II, 25-30.
explains that demons obey the ^Recogs., II, 6; III, 13. magician when invoked by the
420 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
Simon in his turn calls Peter "a magician, a godless man, injurious, cunning, ignorant, and professing impossibili- ties," and again "a magician, a sorcerer, a murderer." ^ Magic is A further characteristic of magic which comes out
an art. clearly in The Recognitions is that it is an art. Demons and souls of the dead may have a great deal to do with it, but it also requires a human operator and makes use of materials drawn from the world of nature. It was by anointing his face with an ointment which the magician had compounded that the countenance of Faustinianus was transformed into the likeness of Simon, while Appion and Anubion, who anointed their faces with the juice of a cer- tain herb, were thereby enabled still to recognize Faus- tinianus as himself.^ In another passage one of Simon's disciples who has deserted him and come to Peter tells how Simon had made him carry on his back to the seashore a bundle "of his polluted and accursed secret things." Simon took the bundle out to sea in a boat and later returned without it.^ Simon not only employed natural materials in his magic, but was regarded as a learned man, even by his enemies. He is "by profession a magician, yet exceed- ingly well trained in Greek literature." * He is "a most vehement orator, trained in the dialectic art, and in the meshes of syllogisms ; and what is most serious of all, he is greatly skilled in the magic art." ^ And he engages with Peter in theological debates. It is also interesting to note as an illustration of the connection between magic and experimental science that Simon, in boasting of his feats of magic, says, "For already I have achieved many things by way of experiment." ^
In the Pseudo-Clementines we are told that Simon in- tended to go to Rome, but The Recognitions and The Homilies deal only with the conflicts between Peter and Simon in various Syrian cities and do not follow them to
* Recogs., Ill, 73 J X, 54. " Recogs., II, 5.
'Recpgs., X, 58. _ "Recogs., II, 9, "Multa etenim
'Recogs., Ill, 63. iam mihi experimenti causa con-
* Recogs., II, 7. summata sunt."
xvii THE RECOGNITIONS AND SIMON MAGUS 421
Rome, where, as other Christian writers tell us, they had yet Other other encounters in which Simon finally came to his bitter of Simon end. Justin Martyr, writing about the middle of the second ^^sus: century, states that Simon, a Samaritan of Gitto, came to Martyr to Rome in the reign of Claudius and performed such feats of tus_ magic by demon aid that a statue was erected to him as a god. In this matter of the statue Justin is thought to have con- fused Semo Sancus, a Sabine deity, with Simon. Justin adds that almost all Samaritans and a few persons from other nations still believe in Simon as the first God, and that a disciple of his, named Menander, deceived many by magic at Antioch. Justin complains that the followers of these men are still called Christians and on the other hand that the em- perors do not persecute them as they do other Christians, al- though Justin charges them with practicing promiscuous sexual intercourse as well as magic. ^ Irenaeus gives a very similar account.^ Origen, as we have seen, denied that there were more than thirty of Simon's followers left,^ but his con- temporary Tertullian wrote, "At this very time even the heretical dupes of this same Simon are so much elated by the extravagant pretensions of their art, that they under- take to bring up from Hades the souls of the prophets them- selves. And I suppose that they can do so under cover of a lying wonder." ^ But Origen and Tertullian add nothing to the story of Simon Magus himself. Hippolytus, too, implies that Simon still has followers, since he devotes a number of chapters to stating and refuting Simon's doc- trines and to "teaching anew the parrots of Simon that Christ . . . was not Simon." ® But Hippolytus also gives further details concerning Simon's visit to Rome, stating that he there encountered the apostles and was repeatedly opposed by Peter, until finally Simon declared that if he were buried alive he would rise again upon the third day.
'^ First Apology, caps. 26 and * Tertullian, De anima, cap. 57,
56; Dialogue ii-ith Trypho, 120. in PL, II, 794; De idolatria, cap.
'Adv. itaer., I, 23. 9- 'See above, chapter 15, p. 365. ^ Philosophumena, VI, 2-15.
422
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
Peter's account in the
Didascalia et Cousti- tntioncs Aposto- lorum.
His disciples buried him, as they were directed, but he never reappeared, "for he was not the Christ."
Peter himself is represented as briefly recounting his struggle at Rome with Simon Magus in the Didascalia Apostolorum, an apocryphal work of probably the third century, extant in Syriac and Latin, and more fully in the parallel passage of the Greek Constitutioncs Apostolo- rum, written perhaps about 400 A. D.^ Peter found Simon at Rome drawing many away from the church as well as seducing the Gentiles by his "magic operation and virtues," or, in the Greek version, "magic experiments and the working of demons." ^ In the Syriac and Latin ac- count Peter then states that one day he saw Simon flying through the air. "And standing beneath I said, 'In the virtue of the holy name, Jesus, I cut off your virtues.' And so falling he broke the arch (thigh?) of his foot (leg?)." ^ But he did not die, since Peter goes on to say that while "many then departed from him, others who were worthy of him remained with him." In the longer Greek version Simon announced his flight in the theater. While all eyes were turned on Simon, Peter prayed against him. Mean- while Simon mounted aloft into mid-air, borne up, Peter says, by demons, and telling the people that he was ascending to heaven, whence he would return bringing them good tid- ings. The people applauded him as a god, but Peter stretched forth his hands to heaven, supplicating God through the Lord Jesus to dash down the corrupter and curtail the power of the demons. He asked further, however, that Simon might not be killed by his fall but merely bruised. Peter also addressed Simon and the evil powers who were supporting him, requiring that he might fall and become a laughing-stock to those who had been deceived by him. Thereupon Simon fell with a great commotion and bruised
* F. X. Funk, Didascalia ct Con- *". . . in una die procedens vidi
stitutiones Apostolorum, 1905, I, ilium per aera volantem et_ fere- 320-1. batur. Et subsistcns dixi : In
' TO. hi Wv7) f^i(TT03v /xa7" Ktti bainovM- ivtpytlq.. virtutcs tuas. F.t sic rucns femur
pedis sui fregit."
XVII THE RECOGNITIONS AND SIMON MAGUS
423
his bottom and the soles of his feet. It will be noted that here, as in the accounts by some other authors, Peter alone struggles with Simon Magus, lending color to the Tiibingen theory once suggested in connection with the Pseudo- Clementines, that Simon Magus is meant to represent the apostle Paul.
Arnobius, writing about 300 A. D., gives a somewhat different account of Simon's mode of flight and fall. He says that the people of Rome "saw the chariot of Simon Magus and his four fiery horses blown away by the mouth of Peter and vanish at the name of Christ. They saw, I say, him who had trusted false gods and been betrayed by them in their fright precipitated by his own weight and lying with broken legs. Then, after he had been carried to Brunda, worn out by his shame and sufferings, he again hurled himself down from the highest ridge of the roof," * Cyril of Jerusalem, 315-386 A. D., also speaks of Simon's being borne in air in the chariot of demons, "and is not surprised that the combined prayers of Peter and Paul brought him down, since in addition to Jesus's promise to answer the petition of two or three gathered together it is to be remembered that Peter carried the keys of heaven and that Paul had been rapt to the third heaven and heard secret words.^ Philastrius, another writer of the fourth century, describes Simon's death more vaguely, stating that after Peter had driven him from Jerusalem he came to Rome where they engaged in another contest before Nero. Simon was worsted by Peter on every point of argument, and, "smitten by an angel died a merited death in order that the falsity of his magic might be evident to all men." ^ But it is hardly worth while to pile up such brief allusions to Simon in the writings of the fathers.^
Arnobius, Cyril, and Philas- trius.
Arnobius, Adversus gentes, II,
12.
"Cyril, Cathechesis, VI, 15, in PG 33, 564.
* Filastrii diversarum hereseon liber, cap. 23, ed. F. Marx, 1898,
in CSEL; also in PL, vol. 12.
* Sulpicius Severus, 363-420, Chron., II, 28, and Theodoret, 0386-456, Haereticarum fabularum compendium, I, i (PG 83, 344) have nothing new to say.
424 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
Apocry- Other fuller accounts of Simon's doing's at Rome are
oh^l Acts
of Peter contained in the Syriac Teaching of Simon Cephas ^ and in and Paul. ^^^ apochryphal Acts of Peter and Paitl.^ In the former Peter urges the people of Rome not to allow the sorcerer Simon to delude them by semblances which are not realities, and he raises a dead man to life after Simon has failed to do so. In the latter work Simon opposes Peter and Paul in the presence of Nero and as usual they charge one another with being magicians. Simon also as usual affirms that he is Christ, and we are told that the chief priests had called Jesus a wizard, Simon had already made a great impres- sion upon Nero by causing brazen serpents to move and stone statues to laugh, and by altering both his face and stature and changing first to a child and then to an old man. Nero also asserts that Simon has raised a dead man and that Simon himself rose on the third day after being be- headed. It is later explained, however, that Simon had arranged to have the beheading take place in a dark corner and through his magic had substituted a ram for himself. The ram appeared to be Simon until after it had been de- capitated, when the executioner discovered that the head was that of a ram but did not dare report the fact to Nero. When Simon met the apostles in Nero's presence, he caused great dogs to rush suddenly at Peter, but Peter made them vanish into air by showing them some bread which he had been secretly blessing and breaking. As a final test Simon promised to ascend to heaven if Nero would build him a tower in the Campus Martins, where "my angels may find me in the air, for they cannot come to me upon earth among sinners." The tower was duly provided, and Simon, crowned with laurel, began to fly successfully until Peter, tearfully entreated by Paul to make haste, adjured the angels of Satan who were supporting Simon to let him drop. Simon then fell upon the Sacra Via and his body was broken into
*AN, VIII, 673-5. Greek scholar, Constantine Las-
' Ibid., 477-85 ; Greek text in caris, translated part of the work
Tischendorf, Acta Apostolorum into Latin in 1490.
Apocrypha, 1851, pp. 1-39. The
XVII THE RECOGNiriONS AND SIMON MAGUS 425
four parts. ^ Nero, however, chose to regard the apostles as Simon's murderers and put them to death, after which a Marcellus, who had been Simon's disciple but left him to join Peter, secretly buried Peter's body.
To this Marcellus is ascribed a very similar narrative An which is found in an early medieval manuscript and was ascribed to perhaps written in the seventh or eighth century.^ Fabricius Marcellus. and Florentinus give its title as, Of the marvelous deeds and acts of the blessed Peter and Paid and of Simon s magic arts.^ I have read it in a Latin pamphlet printed at some time before 1500, where the full title runs : The Passion of the Apostles Peter and Paul, and their disputation before the emperor Nero against Simon, a certain magician, who, when he saw that he could not resist the utterances of St. Peter, cast all his books of mugic into the sea lest he be adjudged a magician. Then when the same Simon Magus presumed to ascend to heaven, overcome by St. Peter he fell to earth and perished most miserably. At its close occurs the statement, "I, Marcellus, a disciple of my lord, the apostle Peter, have written what I saw." When this Mar- cellus began to desert his former master, Simon, to follow Peter, Simon procured a big dog to keep Peter away from Marcellus, but at Peter's order the dog turned upon Simon himself. Peter then humanely forbade the beast to do Simon any serious bodily injury, but the dog tore the magician's clothing off his back, and Simon was chased from town by the mob and did not venture to return until after a year's time.*
*Mead (1892), p. 37, notes that Synodi ad Imp. Const. Act. 18)
Dr. Salmon (article Simon Ma- compare Simon's flight with that
gus in Diet. Chris. Biog. IV, of Icarus.
686) "connects this with the story, ' Tischendorf (1851), p. xix.
told by Suetonius and Dio Chrys- ' "De mirificis rebus et actibus
ostom, that Nero caused a beatorum Petri et Pauli, et de
wooden theater to be erected in magicis artibus Simonis :" Fab-
the Carnpus, and that a gymnast ricius, Cod. apocr., Ill, 632; Flo-
who tried to play the part of rentinus, Martyrologium Hiero-
Icarus fell so near the emperor nymi, 103.
as to bespatter him with blood." * A slightly different version of
Hegesippus {De bello judaico, III, the dog incident is found in the
2), Abdias {Hist, i), and Maxi- Acts of Nereus and Achilles {AS,
mus Taurinensis {Pair. Vl, May III, 9).
426
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
Hege- sippus.
A ser- mon on Simon's fall.
A chapter is devoted to Simon Magus in the History of the Jewish War of the so-called Hegesippus, a name which is thought to be a corruption of Josephus, since the work in large measure reproduces that historian. At any rate it was not written until the fourth century and is probably a translation or adaptation by Ambrose. Its account of Simon Magus combines the story of his competition with Peter in raising the dead, "for in such works Peter was held most celebrated," with that of his flight and fall. He is represented as launching his flight from the Capitoline Hill and leaping off the Tarpeian rock. The people marveled at his flight, some remarking that Christ had never per- formed such a feat as this. But when Peter prayed against him, "straightway his propeller was tangled up in Peter's voice, and he fell, nor was he killed, but, weakened by a broken leg, withdrew to Aricia and died there." ^
Finally, passing over other Latin accounts of the con- test between the apostles and Simon Magus to be found in the Apostolic Histories of the Pseudo-Abdias ^ and in a work ascribed to Pope Linus,^ we may note a sermon which has been variously ascribed in the manuscripts and printed editions to Augustine, Ambrose, and Maximus.* This ser- mon, intended for the anniversary of the day of martyrdom of Peter and Paul, proceeds to inquire the cause of their death and finds it in the fact that among other marvels they "prostrated by their prayers that magician Simon in a headlong fall from the empty air. For when the same Simon called himself Christ and asserted that as the Son he could ascend unto the Father by flying, and, suddenly
^Hegesippus, III, 2 ed. C. F. Weber and J. Caesar, Marburg, 1864, "et statim in voce Petri im- pHcatiis remigiis alarum quas sumserat corruit, nee exanimatus est, sed fracto debilitatus crure Ariciam concessit atque ibi mor- tuus est." I earnestly recommend this passage to those who delight in finding ancient precursors of modern inventions as an example of remarkable insight into the
effect of air-waves upon delicate mechanisms.
^ ed. Fabricius, Cod. apocr., I, 411 ; AS, June V, 424.
^ Biblioth. Patrum, Cologne, 1618, I, 70.
* Printed PL, 39, 2121-2, among the works of Augustine, Ser- moncs Supposititi, CCII. The greater number of MSS assign it to Maximus.
XVII THE RECOGNITIONS AND SIMON MAGUS 427
raised up by magic arts, began to fly, then Peter on his knees prayed the Lord, and by sacred prayer overcame the magical levitation. For the prayer ascended to the Lord before the flier, and the just petition arrived ere the iniquitous presump- tion. Peter, I say, though placed on the ground, obtained what he sought before Simon reached the heaven towards which he was tending. So then Peter brought him down Hke a captive from high in air, and, falling precipitately upon a rock, he broke his legs. And this in contumely of his feat, so that he who just before had tried to fly, of a sud- den could not even walk, and he who had assumed wings lost even his feet. But lest it appear strange that, while the apostle was present, that magician should fly through the air even for a while, let it be explained that this was due to Peter's patience. For he let him soar the higher in order that he might fall the farther ; for he wished him to be car- ried aloft where everyone could see him, in order that all might see him when he fell from on high." The preacher then draws the moral that pride goes before a fall.
The struggle of Peter and Paul with Simon Magus at Simon Rome appears in The Golden Legend, compiled by Jacopo medieval de Voragine in the thirteenth century, and was likewise a ^''*- favorite theme of Gothic stained glass. At Chartres and Angers Peter may be seen routing Simon's dogs by blessing bread; at Bourges and Lyons Simon and Peter compete in raising the dead; while windows at Chartres, Bourges, Tours, Reims, and Poitiers show the apostles praying and Simon falling and breaking his neck.^ This last scene and also the disputation before Nero are represented in the earlier mosaics of the eleventh or twelfth century which the Norman rulers of Sicily had executed in the cathedral of Monreale and the royal chapel of their castle at Palermo.^
* Male, Religious Art in France, legend reads, "Hie praecepto Petri
1913, p. 297, notes 3 and 4; p. oratione Pauli Simon Magus
298, note I. cccidit in terrain," — "Here at
' The two representations are Peter's command and Paul's
essentially identical. Simon falls prayer Simon Magus falls to
head first, and the accompanying earth."