Præcepta de Medicina

The Romans believed that the magical power of prayers was enhanced if they were uttered with a loud voice.

Hence a saying attributed to Seneca:

"So speak to God as though all men heard your prayers."

Of great repute among the healing-spells of antiquity was the cabalistic word „Abracadabra“, which occurs first in a medical treatise entitled "Præcepta de Medicina," by the Roman writer Quintus Serenus Samonicus, who flourished in the second century.

An inverted triangular figure, formed by writing this word in the manner hereinafter described, was much valued as an antidote against fevers; cloth or parchment being the material originally used for the inscription.

Thou shalt on paper write the spell divine,
„Abracadabra“ called, on many a line,
Each under each in even order place,
But the last letter in each line efface;
As by degrees the elements grow few,
Still take away, but fix the residue,
Till at the last one letter stands alone,
And the whole dwindles to a tapering cone.
Tie this about the neck with flaxen string,
Mighty the good 't will to the patient bring.
Its wondrous potency shall guard his bed,
And drive disease and death far from his head.[127:1]

Robert Means Lawrence, PrimitivePsycho-Therapy and Quackery, The Riverside Press Cambridge, 1910.

Photo: pngwing

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