round, and in its revolution it emits a sound like thunder. These farces, verily, are played off thus.
There are, however, other practices that I shall explain, which those who execute these ludicrous performances estimate as great exploits. Placing a cauldron full of pitch upon burning coals, when it boils up, [though] laying their hands down upon it, they are not burned; nay, even while walking on coals of fire with naked feet, they are not scorched. But also setting a pyramid of stone on a hearth, [the sorcerer] makes it get on fire, and from the mouth it disgorges a volume of smoke, and that of a fiery description. Then also putting a linen cloth upon a pot of water, throwing on [at the same time] a quantity of blazing coals, [the magician] keeps the linen cloth unconsumed. Creating also darkness in the house, [the sorcerer] alleges that he can introduce gods or demons; and if any requires him to show Æsculapius, he uses an invocation couched in the following words:
"The child once slain, again of Phœbus deathless made,
I call to come, and aid my sacrificial rites;
Who, also, once the countless tribes of fleeting dead,
In ever-mournful homes of Tartarus wide,
The fatal billow breasting, and the inky[1] flood
Surmounting, where all of mortal mould must float,
Torn, beside the lake, with endless[2] grief and woe,
Thyself didst snatch from gloomy Proserpine.
Or whether the seat of holy Thrace thou haunt, or lovely
Pergamos, or besides Ionian Epidaurus,
The chief of seers, happy God, invites thee here."
Chapter xxxiii.
The Burning Æsculapius—Tricks with Fire.
But after he discontinues uttering these jests, a fiery Æsculapius[3] appears upon the floor. Then, placing in the
