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Zosimus of Panopolis: On Virtue: Third Lesson (Visions)

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On Virtue: Third Lesson (Visions) is the final part of the dream visions of Zosimus of Panopolis, the Egyptian alchemist active around AD 300. He again sees the bowl-shaped altar and a priest in white robes performing fearful mysteries, and learns that he is the priest of the sanctuaries, who wishes to give blood to bodies, sight to eyes, and life to the dead. Falling asleep again, he sees a figure from the east with a sword, followed by another bringing a fair, white-clad figure called 'the sun at midheaven'.

The third lesson brings the Visions to their climax with images of sacrifice and resurrection. It shows most clearly how Zosimus joined the language of temple ritual to the processes of the laboratory, presenting the transformation of metals as a mystery of death and renewal.

About this edition. The Greek text comes from the Eulogikon open corpus of public-domain editions (standard reference: CAAG II 117–118 (III.v bis)). Every word has been analyzed with odyCy, a neural language model for Ancient Greek — click or tap any word for its dictionary form, part of speech, and complete morphology, together with the full entry from the Liddell–Scott–Jones Greek–English Lexicon (LSJ).

Ancient Greek · Science & Medicine
On Virtue: Third Lesson (Visions)
Zosimus of Panopolis · every word parsed
[20]
ΠΟΙΗΜΑ ΤΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΥ ΖΩΣΙΜΟΥ. ΠΡΑΞΙΣ Γ Καὶ πάλιν κατενόησα τὸν θεῖον καὶ ἱερὸν φιαλοβωμὸν, καὶ εἶδόν τινα ἱεροπρεπῆ λευκοποδήρην ἐνδεδυμένον ἱερουργοῦντα τὰ φοβερὰ ἐκεῖνα μυστήρια, καὶ εἶπον· «Ἆρα τίς ἐστιν οὗτος;» καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπέ μοι· «Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ ἱερεὺς τῶν ἀδύτων. Οὗτος βούλεται αἱματῶσαι τὰ σώματα, καὶ ὀμματῶσαι τὰ ὄμματα, καὶ τὰ νενεκρωμένα ἀναστῆσαι.» Καὶ οὕτω πάλιν πεσὼν ἐκοιμήθην ἄλλον ὀλίγον, καὶ αὐτὸ δὴ ἐν τῷ ἐπανέρχεσθαί με ἐπὶ τὴν τετάρτην κλίμακα, εἶδον κατʼ ἀνατολὰς ἐρχόμενον, κατέχοντα ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὑτοῦ μάχαιραν. [20]
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Καὶ ἄλλος ὀπίσω αὐτοῦ φέρων περιηκονισμένον τινὰ λευκοφόρον καὶ ὡραῖον τὴν ὄψιν, οὗ τὸ ὄνομα [αὐτοῦ] ἐκαλεῖτο μεσουράνισμα ἡλίο υ , καὶ ὡς πλησίον ἦλθον τῶν κολάσεων, λέγων ὅτι μάχαιραν κρατῶν, «Περιέτεμε αὐτοῦ τὴν κεφαλὴν, καὶ τὰ κρέατα αὐτοῦ θήσων ἀνὰ μέρος, καὶ τὰς σάρκας αὐτοῦ ἀνὰ μέρος, ὅπως αἱ σάρκες αὐτοῦ πρῶτον ἑψηθῶσιν ὀργανικῶς, καὶ τότε τῇ κολάσει παραπορευθῶσιν.» Καὶ οὕτως πάλιν ἔξυπνος γενόμενος εἶπον· «Καλῶς ἐπενόησα καὶ ὅτι περὶ ταῦτά ἐστιν τὰ ὑγρὰ τῆς μεταλλικῆς.» Καὶ πάλιν ὁ βαστάζων τὴν μάχαιραν ἔφη· «Πεπληρώκατε τὴν κάτω ἑπτὰ κλίμακας. Ὁ δὲ ἕτερος ἔφη ἅμα τῷ ἐκβαλεῖν τοὺς κρουνοὺς διʼ ὑγρῶν πάντων· «Ἡ τέχνη πεπλήρωται.» [10]
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Text: Perseus Digital Library, licensed CC BY-SA. Dictionary: Liddell, Scott & Jones (Perseus, CC BY-SA). Morphology: odyCy — machine parsing, corrected against the AGDT & PROIEL treebanks and Morpheus.
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