SCOT AT THE COURT OF SICILY 33 



The preface to the Sirr-el-asrar affords several 

 matters which agree admirably with what we know 

 of the Therapeutae. The precious volume was the 

 prize of a scholar on his travels, who found it in 

 the possession of an aged recluse dwelling in the 

 penetralia of a sun-temple built by ^sculapius.* 

 All this is characteristic enough, and when we 

 examine the substance of the treatise it appears 

 distinctly Therapeutic. Much of it is devoted to 

 bodily disease, to the regimen of the health, and to 

 that science of physiognomy which professed to 

 reveal, as in a spiritual diagnosis, the infirmities of 

 the soul. The ascription of the work to Aristotle, 

 Alexander's tutor, seems quite in accordance with 

 this theory ; in short, there is no reason to doubt 

 that it first appeared in Egypt, where it probably 

 formed one of the most cherished texts of the 

 Therapeutae. 



The preface to the Sirr-el-asrar throws light 

 not only upon the origin of the treatise but also 

 upon its subsequent fortunes. It is said to have 

 been rendered from the Greek into Chaldee or 

 Syriac, 2 and thence into Arabic, the usual channel 



1 This reminds one of the somewhat similar introduction to the 

 alchemy of Crates, which speaks of a youth called Rissoures, the scion 

 of a family of adepts, who made love to a maid-servant of Ephestelios, 

 chief diviner in the Temple of Serapis at Alexandria, thus inducing her 

 to steal the book and fly with him. The tradition of discovery is 

 common to both legends, but the Crates has a colour of worldly passion 

 and the Sirr-el-Asrar a shade of ascetic practice which agrees admirably 

 with what we know of the Therapeutae. Grates is probably Democritus. 

 The Arabic version was due to Khalid ben Yezid, and bears the title of 

 Kenz el Konouz, or treasure of treasures. It is found in MS. 440 of 

 Leyden. In a later chapter we shall recur to this subject with the view 

 of showing that alchemy as well as physiognomy owed much to the 

 Therapeutic philosophy. 



2 The printed copy in fol. Venice, Bernardinus de Vitalibus, s. a. 

 but probably 1501 reads 'romanam,' which would be neo-Greek or 

 Romaic. 



