εἰ δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν θυμιωμένων ἡμέρας ἑκάστης εἰπεῖν, ὥσπερ ὑπεσχόμην, ἐκεῖνο ἂν διανοηθείη τις πρότερον, ὡς ἀεὶ μὲν οἱ ἄνδρες ἐν σπουδῇ μεγίστῃ τίθενται τὰ πρὸς ὑγίειαν ἐπιτηδεύματα, μάλιστα δʼ ἐν ταῖς ἱερουργίαις καὶ ταῖς ἁγνείαις καὶ διαίταις οὐχ ἧττον ἐστι τοῦ ὁσίου τὸ ὑγιεινόν. . οὐ γὰρ ᾤοντο καλῶς ἔχειν οὔτε σώμασιν οὔτε ψυχαῖς ὑπούλοις καὶ νοσώδεσι θεραπεύειν τὸ καθαρὸν καὶ ἀβλαβὲς πάντῃ καὶ ἀμίαντον. ἐπεὶ τοίνυν ὁ ἀήρ, ᾧ πλεῖστα χρώμεθα καὶ σύνεσμεν, οὐκ ἀεὶ τὴν αὐτὴν ἔχει διάθεσιν καὶ κρᾶσιν, ἀλλὰ νύκτωρ πυκνοῦται καὶ πιέζει τὸ σῶμα καὶ συνάγει τὴν ψυχὴν εἰς τὸ δύσθυμον καὶ πεφροντικὸς οἷον ἀχλυώδη γιγνομένην καὶ βαρεῖαν, ἀναστάντες εὐθὺς ἐπιθυμιῶσι ῥητίνην, θεραπεύοντες καὶ καθαίροντες τὸν ἀέρα τῇ διακρίσει καὶ τὸ σύμφυτον τῷ σώματι πνεῦμα μεμαρασμένον ἀναρριπίζοντες, ἐχούσης τι τῆς ὀσμῆς σφοδρὸν καὶ καταπληκτικόν. αὖθις δὲ μεσημβρίας αἰσθανόμενοι σφόδρα πολλὴν καὶ βαρεῖαν ἀναθυμίασιν ἀπὸ γῆς ἕλκοντα βίᾳ τὸν ἥλιον καὶ καταμιγνύοντα τῷ ἀέρι, τὴν σμύρναν ἐπιθυμιῶσι. διαλύει γὰρ ἡ θερμότης καὶ σκίδνησι τὸ συνιστάμενον ἐν τῷ περιέχοντι θολερὸν καὶ ἰλυῶδες. καὶ γὰρ οἱ ἰατροὶ πρὸς τὰ λοιμικὰ πάθη βοηθεῖν δοκοῦσι φλόγα πολλὴν ποιοῦντες ὡς λεπτύνουσαν τὸν ἀέρα· λεπτύνει δὲ βέλτιον, ἐὰν εὐώδη ξύλα κάωσιν, οἷα κυπαρίττου καὶ ἀρκεύθου καὶ πεύκης. Ἄκρωνα γοῦν τὸν ἰατρὸν ἐν Ἀθήναις ὑπὸ τὸν μέγαν λοιμὸν εὐδοκιμῆσαι λέγουσι, πῦρ κελεύοντα παρακάειν τοῖς νοσοῦσιν· ὤνησε γὰρ οὐκ ὀλίγους. Ἀριστοτέλης δέ φησι καὶ μύρων καὶ ἀνθέων καὶ λειμώνων εὐώδεις ἀποπνοίας οὐκ ἔλαττον ἔχειν τοῦ πρὸς ἡδονὴν τὸ πρὸς ὑγίειαν, ψυχρὸν ὄντα φύσει καὶ παγετώδη τὸν ἐγκέφαλον ἠρέμα τῇ θερμότητι καὶ λειότητι διαχεούσας. εἰ δὲ καὶ τὴν σμύρναν παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις βὰλ καλοῦσιν, ἐξερμηνευθὲν δὲ τοῦτο μάλιστα φράζει τῆς ληρήσεως ἐκσκορπισμόν, ἔστιν ἣν καὶ τοῦτο μαρτυρίαν τῷ λόγῳ τῆς αἰτίας δίδωσιν.
This then is that account of these things which best suits the nature of the Gods. And if I now must, according to my promise, say something concerning those things they daily offer by way of incense, you are in the first place to understand this, that these people make the greatest account imaginable of all endeavors that relate to health; and more especially in their sacrifices, purgations, and diets, health is no less respected than devotion. For they think it would be an unseemly thing to wait upon that nature that is pure and every way unblemished and untouched, with crazy and diseased minds or bodies. Whereas, therefore, the air that we most use and live in hath not always the same disposition and temperament, but in the night-time grows condense, compresses the body, and contracts the mind into a kind of melancholy and thoughtful habit, it becoming then as it were foggy and dozed, they therefore, as soon as they are up in the morning, burn rosin about them, refreshing and clearing the air by its scattered particles, and fanning up the native spirit of the body, which is now grown languid and dull; this sort of scent having something in it that is very impetuous and striking. And perceiving again at noon-time that the sun hath drawn up by violence a copious and gross exhalation out of the earth, they by censing mix myrrh also with the air; for heat dissolves and dissipates that puddled and slimy vapor which at that time gathers together in the ambient air. And physicians are also found to help pestilential diseases by making great blazes to rarefy the air; but it would be much better rarefied, if they would burn sweet-scented woods, such as cypress, juniper, and pine. And therefore Acron the physician is said to have gained a mighty reputation at Athens, in the time of the great plague, by ordering people to make fires near to the sick; for not a few were benefited by it. Aristotle likewise saith that the odoriferous exhalations of perfumes, flowers, and sweet meadows are no less conducing to health than to pleasure; for that their warmth and delicacy of motion gently relax the brain, which is of its own nature cold and clammy. And if it be true that the Egyptians in their language call myrrh bal, and that the most proper signification of that word is scattering away idle talk, this also adds some testimony to our account of the reason why they burn it.
τὸ δὲ κῦφι μῖγμα μὲν ἑκκαίδεκα μερῶν συντιθεμένων ἐστί, μέλιτος καὶ οἴνου καὶ σταφίδος καὶ κυπείρου, ῥητίνης τε καὶ σμύρνης καὶ ἀσπαλάθου καὶ σεσέλεως, ἔτι δὲ σχίνου τε καὶ ἀσφάλτου καὶ θρύου καὶ λαπάθου, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἀρκευθίδων ἀμφοῖν (ὧν τὴν μὲν μείζονα τὴν δʼ ἐλάττονα καλοῦσι) καὶ καρδαμώμου καὶ καλάμου. συντίθενται δʼ οὐχ ὅπως ἔτυχεν, ἀλλὰ γραμμάτων ἱερῶν τοῖς μυρεψοῖς, ὅταν ταῦτα μιγνύωσιν, ἀναγιγνωσκομένων. τὸν δʼ ἀριθμόν, εἰ καὶ πάνυ δοκεῖ τετράγωνος ἀπὸ τετραγώνου καὶ μόνος ἔχων τῶν ἴσων ἰσάκις ἀριθμῶν τῷ χωρίῳ τὴν περίμετρον ἴσην ἀγαγέσθαι προσηκόντως ἐλάχιστα ῥητέον εἴς γε τοῦτο συνεργεῖν, ἀλλὰ τὰ πλεῖστα τῶν συλλαμβανομένων ἀρωματικὰς ἔχοντα δυνάμεις γλυκὺ πνεῦμα καὶ χρηστὴν μεθίησιν ἀναθυμίασιν, ὑφʼ ἧς ὃ τʼ ἀὴρ τρεπόμενος καὶ τὸ σῶμα διὰ τῆς πνοῆς κινούμενον λείως καὶ προσηνῶς ὑπνοῖ τε καὶ κρᾶσιν ἐπαγωγὸν ἴσχει καὶ τὰ λυπηρὰ καὶ σύντονα τῶν μεθημερινῶν φροντίδων ἄνευ μέθης οἷον ἅμματα χαλᾷ καὶ διαλύει· καὶ τὸ φανταστικὸν καὶ δεκτικὸν ὀνείρων μόριον ὥσπερ κάτοπτρον ἀπολεαίνει καὶ ποιεῖ καθαρώτερον οὐδὲν ἧττον ἢ τὰ κρούματα τῆς λύρας, οἷς ἐχρῶντο πρὸ τῶν ὕπνων οἱ Πυθαγόρειοι, τὸ ἐμπαθὲς καὶ ἄλογον τῆς ψυχῆς ἐξεπᾴδοντες οὕτω καὶ θεραπεύοντες. τὰ γὰρ ὀσφραντὰ πολλάκις μὲν τὴν αἴσθησιν ἀπολείπουσαν ἀνακαλεῖται, πολλάκις δὲ πάλιν ἀμβλύνει καὶ κατηρεμίζει διαχεομένων ἐν τῷ σώματι τῶν ἀναδομάτων ὑπὸ λειότητος· ὥσπερ ἔνιοι τῶν ἰατρῶν τὸν ὕπνον ἐγγίγνεσθαι λέγουσιν, ὅταν ἡ τῆς τροφῆς ἀναθυμίασις οἷον ἕρπουσα λείως περὶ τὰ σπλάγχνα καὶ ψηλαφῶσα ποιῇ τινα γαργαλισμόν. τῷ δὲ κῦφι χρῶνται καὶ πώματι καὶ κράματι· πινόμενον γὰρ δοκεῖ τὰ ἐντὸς καθαίρειν, […] χρὴ μαλακτικόν. ἄνευ δὲ τούτων ῥητίνη μέν ἐστιν ἔργον ἡλίου καὶ σμύρνα πρὸς τὴν εἵλην τῶν φυτῶν ἐκδακρυόντων. τῶν δὲ τὸ κῦφι συντιθέντων ἔστιν ἃ νυκτὶ χαίρει μᾶλλον, ὥσπερ ὅσα πνεύμασι ψυχροῖς καὶ σκιαῖς καὶ δρόσοις καὶ ὑγρότησι τρέφεσθαι πέφυκεν. ἐπεὶ τὸ τῆς ἡμέρας φῶς ἓν μέν ἐστι καὶ ἁπλοῦν καὶ τὸν ἥλιον ὁ Πίνδαρος ὁρᾶσθαί φησιν ἐρήμας διʼ αἰθέρος· ὁ δὲ νυκτερινὸς ἀὴρ κρᾶμα καὶ σύμμιγμα πολλῶν γέγονε φώτων καὶ δυνάμεων, οἷον σπερμάτων εἰς ἓν ἀπὸ παντὸς ἄστρου καταρρεόντων. εἰκότως οὖν ἐκεῖνα μὲν ὡς ἁπλᾶ καὶ ἀφʼ ἡλίου τὴν γένεσιν ἔχοντα διʼ ἡμέρας, ταῦτα δʼ ὡς μικτὰ καὶ παντοδαπὰ ταῖς ποιότησιν ἀρχομένης νυκτὸς ἐπιθυμιῶσι.
Moreover, that they call Kyphi is a kind of a composition made up of sixteen ingredients, that is, of honey, wine, raisins, cyperus, rosin, myrrh, aspalathus, seseli, mastich, bitumen, nightshade, and dock; to which they add the berries of both the junipers (the one whereof they call the greater, and the other the lesser sort), as also calamus and cardamom. Neither do they put them together slightly or at a random rate; but the sacred books are read to the perfumers all the while they are compounding them. As for the number of the ingredients (sixteen), — although it may appear important, being the square of a square, and making the only square surface which has a periphery equal to its area, — yet I must needs say that this contributes but very little here. But it is the contained species (most of which are of aromatic properties) that send up a sweet fume and an agreeable exhalation, by which the air is changed; and the body, being moved by the breath, sinks into a calm and gentle sleep, and retains a temperament conducive to sleep; and without the disorders of drunkenness, as it were, it loosens and unties, like a sort of knots, the doziness and intenseness of the thoughts by day-time; and the fantastic part and that which is receptive of dreams it wipes like a mirror and renders clearer, with no less efficacy than those strokes of the harp which the Pythagoreans made use of before they went to sleep, to charm and allay the distempered and irrational part of the soul. For we find that strong scents many times call back the failing sense, but sometimes dull and obstruct it, their wasted parts diffusing themselves by their great fineness and subtilty through the whole body; like as some physicians tell us that sleep is produced when the fumes of meat, by creeping gently about the inwards, and as it were groping every part, cause a certain soft titillation.
They also use this Kyphi both for a drink and for a medicinal potion; for when drunk it is found to cleanse the inwards, it being a loosener of the belly. Besides all this, rosin is the creature of the sun, and they gather myrrh as the trees weep it out by moonlight; but now of those ingredients that make up Kyphi, there are some that delight more in the night, as those whose nature it is to be nourished by cool blasts, shades, dews, and humidities. For the light of day is one thing and simple; and Pindar saith, the sun is then seen Through solitary air. But the air of night is a kind of composition; for it is made up of many lights and powers, which, like so many several seeds, flow down from every star into one place. They therefore very pertinently cense the former things by daytime, as being simples and deriving their original from the sun; and the latter at the entrance of the night, they being mixed and of many and different qualities.
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