(2) And when you wish tο dye the above copper—no better is dyed in Persia—take two parts of fine Cyprian copper, and one of the powder that has been prepared with the thuthia beforehand. Break up the copper into very small parts, as many as you can, and mix the powder in with it; put both into a crucible, and use the bellows vigorously, until the copper bubbles up along with the powder. When it bubbles, add further coals, together with much bellows-work, until the two are united together. And if you wish to make sure of the beauty of the color, take an iron implement with a bent end, and pull out [some of the material] with its end, and look at it. If the color is pleasing, stop using the bellows; but if if is not yet pleasing, keep up the bellows-work and add more coal. For the more you use the bellows and coal, the better your material is rendered.
[5.5 Berthelot]
"Dyeing" of the Indian iron, recorded at the same time.
(1) Take 4 pounds of soft iron and cut it up into small pieces. Take bark of the palm-nut—called elileg among the Arabs—15 mil. in weight; and also belileg , with the insides similarly cleaned out, that is, the bark alone—4 mil. in weight; and amblag , similarly cleaned out—4 mil.; and of the above-mentioned glass-makers' magnesia (feminine magnesia ), 2 mil. Pound all this together, not too finely, and mix it in with the 4 pounds of iron. Put it into a crucible—and level out the place of the crucible before applying the flames; for if you do not do this, so that it does not move this way and that, there will necessarily be problems in the melting process. Then, after this, add the coals, and heat up the crucible until the iron melts, and the [other] materials are united with it. And the 4 pounds of iron require 100 pounds of coals.
(2) Note that if the iron is quite soft, it does not need the magnesia , but only the other materials. For the magnesia dries it out to excess, and it becomes fragile. But if it is soft, there is need of it [i.e., the magnesia ?] alone, so that it is higher. For this accomplishes everything.
(3) This is the first, the royal work, with which they are concerned to this day, and on the basis of which they fashion the "marvelous" swords. It was discovered by the Indians, and was passed on to the Persians, and from them it came to us.
This translation was commissioned by Roger Pearse and made public domain 19th March 2011.
This ms. represents an unpublished Byzantine world chronicle, the so-called "Ps.-Symeon," running from Adam to A.D. 963. It was a source of George Cedrenus, in whose text this same parallel phrasing appears, ed. Bekker, vol. 1 (Bonn, 1838), p. 12. For Ps.-Symeon and the relationship with Cedrenus, cf. M. Wallraff et al., Iulius Africanus: Chronographiae , GCS n. F. 15 (Berlin, 2007), p. xlvi.
Gk. χρόνοι .
According to the LXX, Adam was 230 when he begot Seth, by contrast with the MT, which puts his age at 130.
Since the details of Adam's chronology do not all agree with an extant canonical or non-canonical account of Adam, Serruys (pp 338-9) posits a lost apocryphal life of Adam as Philip's source.
Gk. ἐργάσασθαι .
Cf. Jubilees 3.15, 17.
Gk. ἀπὸ ὥραν πρώτην [ sic ].
Cf. the time-frame put forward by the Cave of Treasures 5, which puts Adam's formation at the 1st hour of the 6th day, his entry into Paradise at the 3rd hour, Adam and Eve's dishonor at the 6th hour, and their expulsion at the 9th hour. The timing is not the same, at least in the current state of the text of Bodl. gr. 120, and also contradicts the seven years mentioned in the first part of the note here, but still seems to indicate some relationship. A. Su-Min Ri, Commentaire de la Caverne des trésors(Leuven, 2000), pp. 167-8, further compares the Cave of Treasures time-frame to that of Rabbinic Jewish sources.
Gk. ἐργάσασθαι .
Wirth prints this first passage, while Serruys ignores it. The explicit turn to Philip of Side makes it less likely that this first passage also derives from Philip.
Gk. ἔτη .
Either Book 24 of his History , or the 24th volume of the (1st?) Book. Photius ( Bibl . cod. 35) says that each of Philip's bibloi contained multiple logoi ; Socrates, HE 7.27 calls the smaller divisions tomoi .
Gk. διδασκαλεῖον .
Athenagoras' work is in fact addressed to Marcus Aurelius (Antoninus) and Commodus.
Gk. ὁ ὑπὲρ Χριστιανῶνπρεσβευτικός ( sc. λόγος ); the mss. of Athenagoras' work give it the title πρεσβεία περὶ Χριστιανῶν —translated by Crehan (ACW), for example, as "Embassy."
Gk. τῆς Ἀκαδημαϊκῆς σχολῆς προϊστάμενος .
Gk. διατριβή .
Gk λόγοι .