Κλήμης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς Δημόκριτος γὰρ τοὺς Βαβυλωνίους λόγους ἠθικοὺς πεποίηται· λέγεται γὰρ τὴν Ἀκικάρου στήλην ἑρμηνευθεῖσαν τοῖς ἰδίοις συντάξαι συγγράμμασι· κἄστιν ἐπισημήνασθαι παρʼ αὐτοῦ «τάδε λέγει Δημόκριτος» γράφοντος. ναὶ μὴν καὶ περὶ αὑτοῦ ἧι σεμνυνόμενός φησί που ἐπὶ τῆι πολυμαθίαι· «ἐγὼ δὲ τῶν κατʼ ἐμαυτὸν ἀνθρώπων γῆν πλείστην ἐπλανησάμην ἱστορέων τὰ μήκιστα, καὶ ἀέρας τε καὶ γέας πλείστας εἶδον, καὶ λογίων ἀνθρώπων πλείστων ἐσήκουσα, καὶ γραμμέων συνθέσιος μετὰ ἀποδείξεως οὐδείς κώ με παρήλλαξεν, οὐδʼ οἱ Αἰγυπτίων καλεόμενοι ἁρπεδονάπται, σὺν τοῖς δʼ ἐπὶ πᾶσιν ἐπʼ ἔτεα πέντε ἐπὶ ξείνης ἐγενήθην». ἐπῆλθε γὰρ Βαβυλῶνά τε καὶ Περσίδα καὶ Αἴγυπτον τοῖς τε μάγοις καὶ τοῖς ἱερεῦσι μαθητεύων. Ζωροάστρην δὲ τὸν μάγον τὸν Πέρσην ὁ Πυθαγόρας ἐζήλωσεν ....
The Fragments on Democritus and Magic is a pseudepigraphic collection attributed to Bolus of Mendes, a Hellenistic writer active around 200 BCE. Composed in Koine Greek, the work falsely ascribes its content to the pre-Socratic philosopher Democritus in order to connect his intellectual authority with emerging traditions of magic and the occult. The surviving passages, which are not from a continuous manuscript but are quotations preserved by later Greek, Byzantine, and Arabic authors, discuss the hidden properties of stones, plants, and animals. These properties are typically explained through the principles of sympathy and antipathy, a conceptual framework wherein natural objects possess inherent affinities or aversions to one another. The fragments appear to be excerpts from a larger, now-lost corpus by Bolus, designed to legitimize magical and proto-alchemical knowledge by associating it with a venerable philosophical figure. The work appears intended for an audience of practitioners or students in Ptolemaic Egypt interested in synthesizing Greek philosophical thought with Egyptian and Near Eastern traditions of natural magic. Through this and similar pseudepigrapha, Bolus played a leading role in forging the enduring legendary image of Democritus as a master of alchemy and esoteric arts.
Bolus of Mendes Fragments on Democritus and Magic in Greek in PDF
Bolus of Mendes Fragments on Democritus and Magic in Greek in MD