354 Early Science and Medicine 21 (2016) 354-356 book reviews

Matteo Martelli
The Four Books of Pseudo-Democritus: Sources of Alchemy (Sources of Alchemy and
Chemistry: Sir Robert Mond Studies in the History of Early Chemistry, Supplement
1) (Leeds: Maney, for the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry, 2014),
pp. 298, $48.00, ISBN 978 1 9096 6228 5.

The extant fragments of the Physika kai mystika (Natural and Secret Questions)
– the oldest text in the corpus alchemicum graecum – begin with several osten-
sibly straightforward recipes for purple dye that the author claimed to have
learned from his master and teacher. The text then turns to an account of the
marvelous revelation of texts: as the author explains, his master had died be-
fore passing along all of his secrets, and attempts to conjure him from Hades to
receive his wisdom had been partially thwarted by an obstructive daemon, so
that all that the master had been able to pass on to his pupil from beyond the
grave was that “the books are in the temple.” Subsequently, during a banquet
feast in the same temple, the participants were in the sancta sanctorum when
a column broke apart, revealing the master’s books inside. These books con-
tained only information that the pupils had already learned, except for the
maxim: “Nature delights in nature, nature conquers nature, nature masters na-
ture.”
These abstruse themes are reprised many times in both the Physika kai mys-
tika and the Peri asēmou poiēseōs (On the Making of Silver), epitomized ver-
sions of what were originally four books concerned with practical processes for
making colors and colorful objects, including the making of purple dye, pre-
cious stones, and gold and silver. These books were ascribed to the Greek phi-
losopher and atomist Democritus, and while Democritus was surely not the
author, they are several of the most important texts in the history of alchemy
because they are among the earliest Western alchemical texts and had a forma-
tive influence on the development of the theory and practice of alchemy.
Matteo Martelli has set for himself the rather monumental task of recon-
structing the original Four Books of Pseudo-Democritus from the various texts
that have survived. In addition to providing a critical edition and English trans-
lation of the surviving Greek manuscripts, Martelli has incorporated material
from several additional sources that prove valuable for understanding the orig-
inal texts. Perhaps most significant, Martelli has included three Syriac manu-
scripts of the Four Books that are edited and translated for the first time. While
these texts may have been assembled after the original Four Books had been
epitomized, they are apposite insofar as they contain several unique passages
and provide different readings when compared with the Byzantine manu-
scripts. This volume also includes an edition of Matthaeus Zuber’s heretofore
ISSN 1383-7427 (print version) ISSN 1573-3823 (online version) ESM 4

Early
© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2016 | doi Science and Medicine 21 (2016) 354-356
10.1163/15733823-00214p05
A Journal for the Study of Science, Technology and Medicine in the Pre-modern Period
book reviews 355

unpublished 1606 Latin translation of the Four Books, as well as the dialogue
between Synesius and Dioscorus, a prominent Byzantine commentary on the
Four Books.
The inclusion of these various texts written in diverse languages and over
the course of many centuries is the primary dynamic that makes this critical
edition an especially valuable contribution to a tradition of scholarship insti-
tuted by Marcellin Berthelot and Charles-Émile Ruelle, editors of the Collec-
tion des ancients alchemistes grecs, which contained the first critical edition of
the pseudo-Democritean works.
The sizeable introduction is followed by the Greek texts and the correspond-
ing English translations: “On the Making of Purple and Gold: Natural and Se-
cret Questions,” “On the Making of Silver,” excerpts from “The Chemistry of
Moses,” and the work written by Synesius, “Notes on Democritus’ Book.” The
Greek texts are followed by the excerpts in Syriac, whose titles translated into
English are “Book of Democritus: On the Making of Shiny Gold,” “Second Book
by the Philosopher Democritus,” and “Again by Democritus: I Greet you Wise
Men.” The edition concludes with Zuber’s Latin translations: “Democriti natu-
ralia et arcana,” “De obscurâ confectione,” “Synesii philosophi ad Dioscorum in
librum Democriti tanquam in scholiis,” and “De dealbatione.”
The introduction draws upon material that Martelli has already published
in Italian (Pseudo-Democrito, scritti alchemici con il commentario di Sinesio
[Paris-Milan, 2011], chapters 1–3), and while many sections are relatively tech-
nical, especially those concerned with tracing the manuscript tradition, non-
specialists will find much that is edifying. Martelli begins with a survey of the
previous early-modern editions of the Four Books and the modern scholars,
beginning with Hermann Kopp, who dealt with these texts in a meaningful
way. After presenting evidence for the direct transmission of the epitomized
editions of the original Greek texts and their Syriac translations, Martelli re-
constructs the probable order and structure of the original Greek texts. He
does this by careful analysis of the Greek and Syriac manuscripts, and by cross-
examination of the indirect sources: works by Late Antique and Byzantine al-
chemical authors who read and quoted the pseudo-Democritean writings.
Martelli argues that the original Four Books should be dated after the first
half of the first century CE, and likely from the reign of Nero. While this date
naturally rules out the authorship of Democritus, Martelli locates the reasons
for attribution to the Abderite, first, in a tradition dating back several centuries
wherein Democritus was supposed to have been the recipient of Eastern wis-
dom, and second, in multiple texts that stressed his mastery of various technai
(i.e., technical arts). Martelli likewise argues, on the basis of the chronological
details of authorship as well as a comparison of known texts, that Bolos of

Early Science and Medicine 21 (2016) 354-356