ABSTRACT
In a prologue accompanying the Latin translation of a classic text on magic, Thābit ibn Qurra’s On Talismans, we are told that the translator, having thoroughly studied the courses of the planets and other parts of the science of the stars, went to search in parts of Spain inhabited by wild races (Hispanae partes…gentes inter efferas) for something that he felt he lacked. A “magister” had pity on him, and took down from his bookshelf a small volume written in Arabic. He told the poor man that mastery of the science of the stars was by no means adequate. The scholar who knew the whole construction of the heavens (totius caeli machina) was as far from true knowledge as someone who had never tasted anything of it. His people (the Arabs), however, had subtly considered the nature and significance of the planets, both for good and for evil, and had summarized their knowledge in a book called “On talismans”. Having been assured by the master that it was legitimate to practice the art described in this book, as long as it was used for a good end, the now satisfied wandering scholar translated it into Latin. 1
