32 THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF MICHAEL SCOT 



Aristotle and Polemon. Through the common 

 channel of the Syriac schools and language it 

 reached the Arabs, and in the ninth century had 

 the fortune to be taken up warmly by Rases and 

 his followers, who made it a characteristic part of 

 their medical system. From this source then Scot 

 drew largely ; chapters xxiv.-xxv. in Book n. of his 

 Physionomia correspond closely with the De Medicina 

 ad Regem Al Mansorem 1 of Eases. 2 



Among ancient texts on physiognomy, however, 

 perhaps the most famous was the Sirr-el-asrar, or 

 Secreta Secretorum, which was ascribed to Aristotle. 

 Its origin, like that of other pseudo-Aristotelic 

 writings, seems to have been Egyptian. When 

 the conquests of Alexander the Great had opened 

 the way for a new relation between East and 

 West, Egypt, and especially its capital, Alexan- 

 dria, became the focus of a new philosophic influence. 

 The sect of the Essenes, transported hither, had 

 given rise to the school of the Therapeutae, where 

 Greek theories developed in a startling direction 

 under the power of Oriental speculation. The Thera- 

 peutae were sun-worshippers, and eager students 

 of ancient and occult writings, as Josephus 3 tells us 

 the Essenes had been. We find in the Abraxas 

 gems, of which so large a number has been pre- 

 served, an enduring memorial of these people and 

 their system of thought. 4 



1 A Physionomia ascribed to Al Mansour himself was commented 

 on by Jacopo da Samminiato. It is preserved in the Bibl. Naz. of 

 Florence, MS. xx. 55. 2 See Book n. chap. xxvi. et seq. 



3 B. J. ii. 8. 6. See also the Church Histories of Neander (i. 61, 

 83) and Kurtz (i. 65). 



4 The word 'A/3pdas read numerically gives the total of 365 = the 

 number of days in which the sun completes his circle through the twelve 

 signs. In this way it is equivalent to Mithras. These gems often bear 

 the figure of a cock = the sun-bird, not without reference to uEsculapius. 

 They were worn to recover or preserve health. 



