Nekromanteia, Cestus 18 colophon, and simple purgatives
(What one must do, he has said.) “O rivers and earth, and you who beneath punish worn-out men, whoever should swear a false oath: you be witnesses, and complete the song for us. I came consulting, that I may arrive into the land of Telemachus, whom I left upon a nurse’s bosom, my child.” For such was the best incantation.
(What one must chant, he says.) “Hear me, kindly-smiling and overseer, well-sowing Anubis lock crux unrestored … Come, Hermes, snatcher; here, well-tressed chthonic Zeus; lock unrestored fulfill this incantation. Here, Hades and Chthon, unquenchable fire, Helios Titan; come also Ia and Phtha and Phre lock unrestored, and much-honored Nephtho and much-blessed Ablanatho, fire-dragon-girded, earth-drawer, ibis-named, Abrasax, far-famed daemon of the cosmic name, allotting axis and chorion and lights, all-father of the Bears; come also, in mastery more excellent than all, to me, Phren, lock crux unrestored and Genea and Apebiota and beautifully-burning Fire; come, Isis chthonic and heavenly and who rule over dreams, and Sirius who …”
And these things I shouted, standing beside the pit; for I remembered well Circe’s instructions, who knows as many drugs as the wide earth nourishes. And a great wave came of lion-fighting Acheron, Cocytus and Lethe and greatest Pyriphlegethon, and a fleet of the dead stood around also beside the pit; and first came the soul of Elpenor the companion. (And the things next.) Either, then, being thus, the poet himself kept silent the rest of the overcurious incantation because of the dignity of the subject, or the Peisistratids, stitching the other verses together, split these off, judging them alien to the line of the poetry there lock crux unrestored. As a more costly offspring of an incantation I myself arranged it here.
This whole hypothesis, laid up, you will find both in the archives of the ancient fatherland-colony Aelia Capitolina of Palestine and at Nysa in Caria, and through the thirteenth in Rome, toward Alexander’s baths, in the beautiful library in the Pantheon which I myself architected for the Augustus. Julius Africanus, Cestus 18.
From the Cesti of Africanus, which is Cestus 13, chapter 22: simple purgatives. Juice of cyclamen smeared on the navel is a vigorous purgative. And the summer cleansing is this:
Greek
(ἃ δεῖ ποιῆσαι εἴρηκεν) « ὦ ποτα μοὶ καὶ γαῖα καὶ οἳ ὑπένερθε κάμοντας ἀνθρώ πους τ ί νεσθον, ὅτις κ' ἐπ ί ορκον ὀμόσσῃ, ὑμεῖς μάρτυροι ἔστε, τελείετε δ' ἄμμιν ἀοι δή ν· ἦλθον χρησόμενος ὡς ἂν εἰς γαῖαν ἱκάνω Τηλεμ άχου γε, ὃν ἔλειπον ἐπὶ κόλποισι τ ιθή νης, τέκνο ν ἐμόν»· τοίη γὰρ ἀρίστη ἦν ἐπαοιδ ή . (ἃ δεῖ ἐπᾷσαι λέγει) « κλῦθί μοι, εὐμειδὴς καὶ ἐπίσκοπος, εὔσπο ρ' Ἄν ουβι † ...α̣υλλ̣ι̣παε παρευνεταωσι ο̣ει † ... ἔλθ' Ἑρ μῆ, ἅρπαξ, δεῦρ' εὐπλόκαμε χθόνιε Ζεῦ, κῦρς αι δωσάμενοι κρηήνατε τήνδ' ἐπαοιδήν· δεῦρ' Ἅιδ η καὶ Χθών, πῦρ ἄφθιτον, Ἥλιε Τιτάν, ἐλθὲ καὶ Ἰάα καὶ Φθᾶ καὶ Φρῆ νομοσώσω ν , καὶ Νεφ θὼ πολύτιμε καὶ Ἀβλαναθὼ πολύολβε, πυρς οδρακοντόζων', ἐρυσίχθων, ἰβικαρείη, Ἀβραξ ᾶ, περίβωτε τὸ κοσμικὸν οὔνομα δαίμων, ἄξονα καὶ χορίον καὶ φῶτα νέμων παγέρ' Ἄρκτων, ἐλθὲ κ αὶ ἐνκρατείᾳ πάντων προφερέστερ' ἐμοί, Φρήν, † ...ωρ̣ιευ και φασιε και σισυων̣ † καὶ Γε νεὰ καὶ Ἀπηβιοτὰ καὶ Πῦρ καλλιαιθές, ἔλθ' Ἶσι ς χθονία καὶ οὐρανία καὶ ὀνείρω ν ἣ μεδέει ς καὶ Σείρι' ὃς ...» Καὶ τάδ ε μὲν παρὰ βόθρον ἐγὼν ἤϋσα παραστάς· εὖ γὰρ ἐμεμνήμην Κίρκης ὑποθημοσυνά ω ν ἣ τόσα φ άρμακα οἶδεν ὅς α τρέφει εὐρεῖα χθών· ἦλθεν δὲ μέγα κῦμα λεον τ ομάχου Ἀχέροντος Κωκυτὸς Λήθη τε Πολυφλεγέθων τε μέγιστος, καὶ νεκ ύων στόλος ἀμφιπαρίστατο καὶ παρὰ βόθρον· πρώτη δ ὲ ψυχὴ Ἐλπήνορος ἦλθεν ἑταίρου. (τά θ' ἑξῆς) Εἴτ' οὖν οὕτως ἔχον αὐτὸς ὁ ποιητὴς τὸ περίεργον τῆς ἐπιρρήσεως τὰ ἄλλα διὰ τὸ τῆς ὑποθέσεως ἀξίωμα σεσιώπηκεν, εἴθ' οἱ Πεισιστρατίδαι τὰ ἄλλα συνράπτοντες ἔπη ταῦτα ἀπέσχισαν, ἀλλότρια τοῦ στοίχου τῆς ποιήσεως ἐκεῖ ἐπικρίναντες † ἐπ ὶ πολλο ῖ ς ἔγνων †· ἅτε κύημα πο λυτε λ έστερον ἐπικ ῆ ς αὐτὸς ἐνταυθοῖ κατέταξα· τήνδε τὴν σύμπασαν ὑπόθεσιν ἀνακειμένην ε ὑ ρέσεις ἔν τε τοῖς ἀρχείοις τῆς ἀρχαίας π α τρίδος κολων ία ς Α ἰλίας Καπιτωλίνης τῆς Παλαιστίνης κἀν Νύσῃ τῆς Καρίας, μέχρι δὲ τοῦ τρισκαιδεκάτου ἐν Ῥώμῃ πρὸς ταῖς Ἀλεξάνδρου θερμαῖς ἐν τῇ ἐν Πανθείῳ βιβλιοθήκῃ τῇ καλῇ ἣν αὐτὸς ἠρχιτεκτόνησα τῷ Σεβαστῷ. Ἰουλίου Ἀφρικανοῦ Κεστὸς ιηʹ. Ἐκ τῶν Ἀφρικανοῦ Κεστῶν, ὅπερ ἐστὶ Κεστοῦ ιγʹ κεφάλαιον κβʹ· καθαρτικὰ ἁπλᾶ Κυκλαμίνου χυλὸς ὀμφαλῷ ἐπιχρισθεὶς καθαρτικὸν εὔτονον. Θερινὴ δὲ κάθαρσις ἥδε·
About this text
Julius Africanus, Cesti (Embroidered Girdles): a miscellany of history, science, and craft, in the surviving fragments — books 7, 2, and 3 in full, with parts of books 4, 8, 9, and 13, and the colophon of Cestus 18. The older English translates his letters only. The book-2 table of contents and a book-7 appendix are not in this volume.
New English from locked PG 10 / Khazarzar Greek of the Cesti fragmenta through 9.5. Earlier lemma-led scaffold English was discarded. Book-2 pinax and book-7 appendix held. This lock is exhausted.
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG 10 Cesti fragmenta (Khazarzar) (Greek)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.