Elements of Magic in the Medicinal Recipes of Cato the Elder and Pliny

Abstract

The article deals with magical elements in medicinal prescriptions of Cato the Elder and Pliny. The term “magic” in general is not characteristic for Roman authors, most often they used carmen, incantamentum and veneficium. Our understanding of “magic” differed significantly from the Roman: for them it was primarily harmful practices. Cato the Elder and Pliny used the following magical components in healing practices: incantations (including words without dictionary meaning), gestures, fumigation and odors, “strong” materials and plants, transfer of influence to another object, and magic numbers. Wild plants were seen as more potent than cultivated plants. On the contrary, some materials processed by man were more potent than those that had not been worked on by man.