Thebit’s relations to Sabianism.
Thebit, at any rate, seems to have prided himself upon being a descendant of pagan antiquity. In a passage praising his native town he said, “We are the heirs and posterity of heathenism,â€[2671]and he described with veneration a ruined Greek temple at Antioch.[2672]He had, however, some religious disagreement with the Sabians of Harran and was finally forced to leave.[2673]He met a philosopher who took him to Bagdad where he became one of the Caliph’s astronomers[2674]and founded there a Sabian community to his own taste.His numerous religious writings show the value which he attached to various Sabian usages and rites: ceremonials at burials, hours of prayer, rules of purity and impurity and concerning the animals to be sacrificed, readings in honor of the different planets.[2675]
Thebit as encyclopedist, philosopher, astronomer.
Thebit was a writer of encyclopedic range and translated from the Greek[2676]into Arabic or Syriac such authors as Apollonius, Archimedes, Aristotle, Euclid, Hippocrates, and Galen. He “was famed above all as a philosopher,â€[2677]but most of his philosophical works are lost, but some geometrical treatises by him are extant, and a work on weights appears in Latin translation.[2678]A group of four astronomical treatises by him also occurs with fair frequency in medieval manuscripts.[2679]On the basis of these specimens of his astronomy Delambre was not moved to assign him any great place in the history of the science;[2680]Chwolson objects that they are too brief to do him justice,[2681]but they are probably the cream of his own contributions to the subject or the middle ages would not have translated and preserved them so sedulously.
His occult science.
Whatever Thebit’s contributions to positive knowledge may or may not have been, there is no dispute as to the fact that he was given to occult science and even superstition. His attitude towards alchemy, indeed, is doubtful, as a work of alchemy is ascribed to him in one manuscript ofthe fourteenth century and some notes against the art in another[2682]. But of his adhesion to astrology there is no doubt[2683], and Chwolson notes his interest in the mystic power of letters and magic combinations of them[2684]. But the one outstanding example of his occult science is his treatise on images, which seems to have been a favorite with the Latin middle ages, since it appears to have been translated into Latin twice, by Adelard of Bath[2685]and by John of Seville[2686],since the manuscripts of it are numerous,[2687]and it also was printed,[2688]and since Thebit is cited as an authority on the subject of images by such medieval writers as Roger Bacon, Albertus Magnus,[2689]the author ofPicatrix,[2690]Peter of Abano,[2691]and Cecco d’Ascoli.[2692]
Astrological and magic images.
The work begins by emphasizing the need of a knowledge of astronomy in order to perform feats of magic (praestigia). The images described are astronomical or astrological and must be constructed under prescribed constellations in order to fulfill the end sought. Often, however, they are human forms rather than astronomical figures. It is not necessary to engrave them upon gems; Thebit expressly states that the material of which they are made orupon which they are engraved is unimportant, and that lead or tin or bronze or gold or silver or wax or mud or anything you please will do. The essential thing and “the perfection of mastery†is careful conformity to astrological conditions. This science of images is indeed, as Aristotle and Ptolemy have testified, the acme of astrology. Nevertheless, after the image has been properly constructed, there is usually some non-astrological ceremony to be executed in connection with it which savors of magic. Often the image is to be buried, not however in a grave as in the case of the ancient curses upon lead tablets, but in the house of someone concerned. Once two images are to be placed facing each other and wrapped in a clean cloth before burying them. Instructions are also given as to the direction in which the person burying the image should face. Also forms of words are prescribed which are to be repeated as the image is buried. Once the name of the person whom it is desired to injure is to be written with “names of hate on the back of the image.†Among the objects supposed to be achieved by such images are driving off scorpions, destroying a given region, causing misfortunes to happen to others, recovery of stolen objects, success in business or politics, protection from possible injury at the hands of the king, or the causing of an enemy’s death by bringing him into disfavor with the monarch. The treatise closes, at least in the printed text, with an admission of its essentially magic character by saying, “And this is what God the highest wished to reveal to his servants concerning magic, that His name may be honored and praised and ever exalted through the ages.†But no mention is made of demons, unless an instruction to name one image “by a famous name†alludes to some spirit.
We shall now conclude the present survey with some account of Rasis and his writings, with the exception of a number of books of experiments ascribed to him, but which it is impossible to separate from those ascribed to Galenand other authors, and of which we shall treat later under the head of such experimental literature.
Life of Rasis.
The full name of Rasis or Rhazes was Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya ar-Razi,[2693]the last word indicating his birthplace in Persia. The date of his birth is uncertain, perhaps about 850. He died in 923 or 924.[2694]For the facts of his life we are dependent upon two Arabic writers of the thirteenth century[2695]who do little except tell one “good†story after another about him, or quote his famous sayings, most of which sound as if culled from the works of Galen. When about thirty years of age Rasis came to Bagdad and is said to have been attracted to the study of medicine by hearing how an inflamed and swollen forearm which gave great pain was marvelously cured by the application of an herb, which came to be called “the vivifier of the world.†In the early years of the tenth century Rasis served as physician in the hospital at Bagdad. According to Withington he has been called “the first and most original of the great Moslem physicians.†He also was interested in philosophy and alchemy, as his writings will show.
His 232 works.
There has come down to us a list of some 232 works ascribed to Rasis.[2696]Some of them are probably merely different wordings of the same title, others are very likely chapters repeated from his longer works, but at any rate they serve to give us some idea of his interests and theground he covered, although of course some may be incorrectly attributed to him. Editions of the Latin translations of some of his chief medical works were printed before the end of the fifteenth century at Milan in 1481 and Bergamo in 1497.[2697]These contain the famousLiber AlmansorisorLiber El-Mansuri dictuswith its ten subordinate treatises: (1) introduction to medicine and discussion of human anatomy, (2) the doctrine of temperaments and humors and a discussion of the art of physiognomy,[2698]with a chapter on how to select slaves, (3) diet and drugs, (4) hygiene, (5) cosmetics, (6) rules of health and medicines for travelers, (7) surgery or “the art of binding up broken bones and concerning wounds and ulcers,†(8) poisons, (9) treatment of diseases from head to foot, (10) fevers. Following this in both editions come his works on Divisions, on diseases of the joints, on the diseases of children, and his Aphorisms or six books of medicinal secrets. Other writings by Rasis found in one or both of the printed editions are a brief treatise on Surgery, Cautery, and Leeches,[2699]the book of Synonyms, the table of antidotes, and some others which we shall have occasion to mention later. His treatise on the pestilence or on smallpox and measles was printed many times from the fifteenth to sixteenth century.
Charlatans discussed.
In the list of 232 titles are three works which all seem to bear on the same point and are perhaps different descriptions of one treatise, or else show that this was a favorite theme with Rasis. The idea in all three seems to be that no physician is perfect or can cure all diseases of all patients,that this is why many persons go to charlatans, and why sometimes quacks, old-wives, and popular practice succeed in certain cases where the most learned doctors have failed.[2700]
His interest in natural science.
Other titles show that Rasis was interested in natural science and not merely in the practice of medicine. Besides what would appear to have been a general treatise entitled,Opinions concerning Natural Things, he wrote on optics, holding that vision was not by rays sent forth from the eye, and discussing some of the figures in the work on optics ascribed to Euclid. In a letter he inquired into the reason for the creation of wild beasts and venomous reptiles; and in a third treatise wrote of the magnet’s attraction for iron and of vacuums.[2701]His interest in natural philosophy of a rather theoretical sort is indicated by anExplanation of the book of Plutarch or commentary on the book of Timaeus.[2702]Other titles attest his experimental tendency.[2703]
Rasis and alchemy.
Eight titles deal with alchemy[2704]and show that Rasis regarded transmutation as possible. One is a reply to Alkindi who held the opposite opinion.[2705]None of these writings seem to be extant in Arabic, however, and the Latin works of alchemy ascribed to Rasis are generally regarded as spurious. The thirteenth century encyclopedist, Vincentof Beauvais, made a number of citations from the treatiseDe salibus et aluminibusattributed to Rasis, but Berthelot[2706]regarded this work as later than Rasis and it is not found among our eight titles. TheLumen luminis, which is ascribed to Rasis[2707]and seems to have been translated by Michael Scot[2708]in the early thirteenth century, is also mainly devoted to these two substances, salts and alums. ABook of Seventyis ascribed to Rasis as well as to Geber. Berthelot was inclined to think that aBook of Secretsperhaps went back to Rasis. At least some good stories are told by Arabic chroniclers of Rasis’ connection with alchemy. One is to the effect that he abandoned the art as a result of a sound beating to which the caliph subjected him when he failed to transmute metals at order. Another states that in preparing the elixir he injured his eyes with its vapors and was cured by a physician who charged him a fee of five hundreddinars. Rasis paid the doctor’s bill, but, remarking that at last he had discovered the true alchemy and the best art of making gold, devoted the remainder of his life to the study and practice of medicine.[2709]
Titles suggestive of astrology and magic.
Rasis also wrote treatises on mathematics and the stars but it is not always easy to infer their contents from the titles which have alone reached us or to tell whenmathematicameans astrology. In one work he seems to have shown the excellence and utility ofmathematica, but to have confuted those who extolled it beyond measure.[2710]In a letter he denied that the rising and setting of the sun and other planets was because of the earth’s motion and held that it was due to the movement of the celestial orb.[2711]In another letter he discussed the opinion of natural philosophers concerning the sciences of the stars and whether ornot the stars were living beings.[2712]Rasis also discussed the difference between dreams from which the future can be forecast and other dreams.[2713]The title,Of exorcisms, fascinations, and incantations, under which, according to Negri’s Latin translation Rasis discussed the causes and cures of diseases by these methods and magic arts, should, in Ranking’s opinion, be more accurately translated asThe Book of Divisions and Branches.[2714]A workOn the Necessity of Prayeris also included in the list of 232 works ascribed to Rasis,[2715]while a Lapidary produced for Wenzel II of Bohemia (1278-1305) cites RasisOn the virtues of words and characters.[2716]
Conclusion.
Herewith we conclude our present survey of Arabian occult science especially in the ninth century, although in the following chapters we shall frequently encounter its influence. We have found the occult science closely associated with natural science and difficult to sever from it. In the authors and works reviewed we have found both scepticism and superstition, both rationalism and empiricism. But perhaps the most impressive point is that even superstition pretends to be or attempts to be scientific.