§20ἦν δὲ τὸ μηχάνημα τοῦτο ἀνδρὶ μὲν οἵῳ σοί, εἰ δὲ μὴ φορτικὸν εἰπεῖν, καὶ οἵῳ ἐμοί, πρόδηλον καὶ γνῶναι ῥᾴδιον, τοῖς δὲ ἰδιώταις καὶ κορύζης μεστοῖς τὴν ῥῖνα τεράστιον καὶ πάνυ ἀπίστῳ ὅμοιον.
This contrivance, to a man such as you, and—if it is not offensive to say so—also to one such as me, was obvious and easy to understand, but to the laymen and those whose noses are full of snot, it was miraculous and utterly incredible.
ἐπινοήσας γὰρ ποικίλας τῶν σφραγίδων τὰς λύσεις ἀνεγίγνωσκέν τε τὰς ἐρωτήσεις ἑκάστας καὶ τὰ δοκοῦντα πρὸς αὐτὰς ἀπεκρίνετο, εἶτα κατειλήσας αὖθις καὶ σημηνάμενος ἀπεδίδου μετὰ πολλοῦ θαύματος τοῖς λαμβάνουσιν.
For having devised various ways of undoing the seals, he read each of the questions and made the answers that seemed appropriate to them; then, rolling them up again and sealing them, he returned them with much amazement to those who received them.
καὶ πολὺ ἦν παρʼ αὐτοῖς τὸ
πόθεν γὰρ οὗτος ἠπίστατο ἃ ἐγὼ πάνυ ἀσφαλῶς σημηνάμενος αὐτῷ ἔδωκα ὑπὸ σφραγῖσιν δυσμιμήτοις, εἰ μὴ θεός τις ὡς ἀληθῶς ὁ πάντα γιγνώσκων ἦν· §21τίνες οὖν αἱ ἐπίνοιαι, ἴσως γὰρ ἐρήσῃ με.
And there was much of this among them: "For how did this man know what I, having sealed very securely, gave to him under seals that are hard to imitate, unless indeed there was truly some god who knows all things?" What then were the devices? For perhaps you will ask me.
ἄκουε τοίνυν, ὡς ἔχοις ἐλέγχειν τὰ τοιαῦτα.
Listen then, so that you may have the means to expose such things.
ἡ πρώτη μὲν ἐκείνη, ὦ φίλτατε Κέλσε· βελόνην πυρώσας τὸ ὑπὸ τὴν σφραγῖδα μέρος τοῦ κηροῦ διατήκων ἐξῄρει καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἀνάγνωσιν τῇ βελόνῃ αὖθις ἐπιχλιάνας τὸν κηρόν, τόν τε κάτω ὑπὸ τῷ λίνῳ καὶ τὸν αὐτὴν τὴν σφραγῖδα ἔχοντα, ῥᾳδίως συνεκόλλα.
The first indeed was that one, dearest Celsus: having heated a needle, by melting the part of the wax under the seal, he extracted it, and after reading, having warmed the wax again with the needle—both the wax below under the thread and that which had the seal itself—he easily joined them together again.
ἕτερος δὲ τρόπος ὁ διὰ τοῦ λεγομένου κολλυρίου·
Another method was that by means of the so-called plaster (collyrium).
σκευαστὸν δὲ τοῦτό ἐστιν ἐκ πίττης Βρεττίας καὶ ἀσφάλτου καὶ λίθου τοῦ διαφανοῦς τετριμμένου καὶ κηροῦ καὶ μαστίχης.
This is prepared from Bruttian pitch, asphalt, ground transparent stone, wax, and mastic.
ἐκ γὰρ τούτων ἁπάντων ἀναπλάσας τὸ κολλύριον καὶ θερμήνας πυρί, σιάλῳ τὴν σφραγῖδα προχρίσας ἐπετίθει καὶ ἀπέματτε τὸν τύπον.
For having kneaded the plaster from all these and warmed it on the fire, having smeared the seal beforehand with saliva, he applied it and took an impression of the shape.
εἶτα αὐτίκα ξηροῦ ἐκείνου γενομένου, λύσας ῥᾳδίως καὶ ἀναγνούς, ἐπιθεὶς τὸν κηρὸν ἀπετύπου ὥσπερ ἐκ λίθου τὴν σφραγῖδα εὖ μάλα τῷ ἀρχετύπῳ ἐοικυῖαν.
Then, as soon as that became dry, having easily undone and read it, applying the wax, he stamped the seal as if from a stone, resembling the archetype extremely well.
τρίτον ἄλλο πρὸς τούτοις ἄκουσον· τιτάνου γὰρ εἰς κόλλαν ἐμβαλὼν ᾗ κολλῶσι τὰ βιβλία, καὶ κηρὸν ἐκ τούτου ποιήσας, ἔτι ὑγρὸν ὄντα ἐπετίθει τῇ σφραγῖδι καὶ ἀφελών — αὐτίκα δὲ ξηρὸν γίγνεται καὶ κέρατος, μᾶλλον δὲ σιδήρου παγιώτερον — τούτῳ ἐχρῆτο πρὸς τὸν τύπον.
Hear another, a third besides these: having put some gypsum into the glue with which they glue books, and having made a sort of wax out of this, while it was still wet, he applied it to the seal and took it off—and it immediately becomes dry and harder than horn, or rather, than iron—and he used this for the impression.
ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλα πολλὰ πρὸς τοῦτο ἐπινενοημένα, ὧν οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον μεμνῆσθαι ἁπάντων, ὡς μὴ ἀπειρόκαλοι εἶναι δοκοίημεν, καὶ μάλιστα σοῦ ἐν οἷς κατὰ μάγων συνέγραψας, καλλίστοις τε ἅμα καὶ ὠφελιμωτάτοις συγγράμμασιν καὶ δυναμένοις σωφρονίζειν τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας, ἱκανὰ παραθεμένου καὶ πολλῷ τούτων πλείονα.
And there are many other things devised for this, of which it is not necessary to mention all, lest we seem to be tasteless, and especially since you, in those works which you wrote against the magicians—books which are at once most beautiful and most useful, and capable of bringing to their senses those who read them—have set forth sufficient and many more things than these.
§22ἔχρη οὖν καὶ ἐθέσπιζε, πολλῇ τῇ συνέσει ἐνταῦθα χρώμενος καὶ τὸ εἰκαστικὸν τῇ ἐπινοίᾳ προσάπτων, τοῖς μὲν λοξὰ καὶ ἀμφίβολα πρὸς τὰς ἐρωτήσεις ἀποκρινόμενος, τοῖς δὲ καὶ πάνυ ἀσαφῆ· χρησμῳδικὸν γὰρ ἐδόκει αὐτῷ τοῦτο.
So he gave oracles and prophesied, employing much shrewdness here and attaching the conjectural to his design, answering some with oblique and ambiguous replies to their questions, and others even with completely obscure ones; for this seemed to him to be in the manner of oracles.
τοὺς δὲ ἀπέτρεπεν ἢ προὔτρεπεν, ὡς ἄμεινον ἔδοξεν αὐτῷ εἰκάζοντι·
Others he deterred or encouraged, as seemed better to him on conjecture.
τοῖς δὲ θεραπείας προὔλεγεν καὶ διαίτας, εἰδώς, ὅπερ ἐν ἀρχῇ ἔφην, πολλὰ καὶ χρήσιμα φάρμακα.
To some he prescribed treatments and diets, knowing, as I said at the beginning, many useful remedies.
μάλιστα δὲ εὐδοκίμουν παρʼ αὐτῷ αἱ κυτμίδες, ἀκόπου τι ὄνομα πεπλασμένον, ἐκ λίπους ἀρκείου συντεθειμένου.
Especially celebrated among his remedies were the cytmides, a made-up name for a pain-reliever, composed of bear's grease.
τὰς μέντοι ἐλπίδας καὶ προκοπὰς καὶ κλήρων διαδοχὰς εἰσαῦθις ἀεὶ ἀνεβάλλετο, προστιθεὶς ὅτι
ἔσται πάντα ὁπόταν ἐθελήσω ἐγὼ καὶ Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ προφήτης μου δεηθῇ καὶ εὔξηται ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν. §23ἐτέτακτο δὲ ὁ μισθὸς ἐφʼ ἑκάστῳ χρησμῷ δραχμὴ καὶ δύʼ ὀβολώ.
However, hopes, advancements, and successions to estates he always postponed to a future time, adding that: "All things shall be whenever I wish and Alexander my prophet prays and makes entreaties for you." The fee for each oracle was fixed at a drachma and two obols.
μὴ μικρὸν οἰηθῇς, ὦ ἑταῖρε, μηδʼ ὀλίγον γεγενῆσθαι τὸν πόρον τοῦτον, ἀλλʼ εἰς ἑπτὰ ἢ ὀκτὼ μυριάδας ἑκάστου ἔτους ἤθροιζεν, ἀνὰ δέκα καὶ πεντεκαίδεκα χρησμοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὑπὸ ἀπληστίας ἀναδιδόντων.
Do not think, my friend, that this revenue was small or little, but he gathered as much as seventy or eighty thousand drachmas each year, since people in their greed submitted ten or fifteen questions each.
λαμβάνων δὲ οὐκ αὐτὸς ἐχρῆτο μόνος οὐδʼ εἰς πλοῦτον ἀπεθησαύριζεν, ἀλλὰ πολλοὺς ἤδη περὶ αὑτὸν ἔχων συνεργοὺς καὶ ὑπηρέτας καὶ πευθῆνας καὶ χρησμοποιοὺς καὶ χρησμοφύλακας καὶ ὑπογραφέας καὶ ἐπισφραγιστὰς καὶ ἐξηγητάς, ἅπασιν ἔνεμεν ἑκάστῳ τὸ κατʼ ἀξίαν.
And receiving this, he did not use it alone nor hoard it for wealth, but since he already had many collaborators about him, and assistants, spies, oracle-makers, oracle-keepers, scribes, sealers, and interpreters, he distributed to all, to each according to his worth.