CHAPTER IV

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.