[11] ποταείσομαι ἅσυχα, δαῖμον altered by Kiessling and subsequent editors to ἅσυχε δαῖμον. But the sense is not 'submissa voce tibi, Luna, dolores meos conquerar' (Meineke); but 'I will sing my invocation in a hushed voice of awe.'
Nor has δαῖμον been rightly understood. Simaetha is not addressing the moon as the peaceful goddess of night but the daemon of magic; the counterpart in heaven of Hecatè in hell. Lines 14-16 are this very incantation addressed to the 'diva triformis,' Hecatè. Cf. Lucian, Νεκυομαντ. 465 ῥῆσίν τινα μακρὰν ἐπιλέγων ἣν οὐ σφόδρα κατήκουον: ἐπίτροχον γάρ τι καὶ ἀσαφὲς ἐφθέγγετο πλὴν ἐῴκει γέ τινας ἐπικαλεῖσθαι δαίμονας: ib. 466 τὴν ἐπῳδὴν ἐκείνην ὑποτονθορύσας: cf. ib. 469. In the magic formulae preserved to us we have constant invocations of the νεκυδαίμων, 'demon of the dead' (Brit. Mus. Papyrus XLVI) νεκυδαῖμον ὅστις εἶ, παραδίδωμι σοὶ τὸν δεῖνα ὅπως μὴ ποιήσῃ τὸ δεῖνα πρᾶγμα: Paris Pap. Z. 1496 (see E. Kuhnest, Rhein. Mus. 1894, p. 37) ὁρκίζω σε νεκυδαῖμον κατάδησον τὴν δεῖνα φιλοῦσαν, ἐρῶσαν. Throughout the first part of the poem Theocritus reproduces accurately the rites and symbolisms of the two branches of 'Fire magic' and 'Philtro-Witchcraft' (classed generally in l. 1 under (a) δάφναι, (b) φίλτρα). (1) In 'fire magic' some quickly burning substance (ἄλφιτα, 18; δάφνα, 23; κηρός, 28; πίτυρα, 33) or some relic (κράσπεδον, 53) was taken as a symbol of the object of the charm, and consumed in the fire while a charm or curse was pronounced, that as the symbol consumed so might the person consume (see ll. 21, 26, 31). So the Paris Pap. Z. 1496 foll. gives a form of charm to be used with ζμύρνα--myrrh--and fire. ᾿Αγωγὴ ἐπὶ ζμύρνης ἐπιθυομένης…πέμπω σε πρὸς τὴν δεῖνα τῆς δεῖνα…ἵνα μοι ἄξῃς αὐτὴν…εἰ κοιμᾶται μὴ κοιμάσθω ἀλλ᾽ ἐμὲ μόνον τὸν δεῖνα κατὰ νοῦν ἐχέτω, ἐμοῦ μόνον ἐπιθυμεῖτω, ἐμὲ μόνον στεργέτω (cf. Theocr. ii. 44-46) ἐξορκίζω σε ζμύρνα κατὰ τῶν τριῶν ὀνομάτων ἀνόχω ἀβράσαξ τρω-- ὡς ἐγώ σε κατακάω καὶ δυνατὴ εἶ οὕτω ἧς φιλῶ κατάκωσον τὸν ἐγκέφαλον (ll. 26, 29) ἔκκαυσον καὶ ἔκστρεψον αὐτῆς τὰ σπλάγχνα, ἔκσταξον αὐτῆς τὸ αἷμα ἕως ἂν ἔλθῃ πρὸς ἐμέ. Or an old German charm: 'Schrieb auff ein weyss glas dyse wartt ... und leg das glas zu dem feure, und sprich dise wartt: Als hayss das glas ist als hayss sy der N nach mir' (quoted by Kuhnert loc. cit.). The object burned might be made into a rough image of the person, but there was no need for this. Althaea wrought the doom of Meleager by burning a log of wood identified with him. “ καῖέ τε δαιδαλέαςἐκ λάρνακος ὠκύμορον
φιτρὸν ἀγκλαύσασα: τὸν δὴ
μοῖρ᾽ ἐπέκλωσεν τότε
ζωᾶς ὅρον ἁμετέρας ἔμμεν.--βαξξηψλ. ϝ. 140.
” (2) Charms without fire were (1) potions (l. 58); (2) spells wrought by herbs possessing occult virtues (θρόνα, 59: ἱππομανές, 48), or by representative objects acting by sympathy, Brit. Mus. Papyrus XLVI = Cambr. Antiq. Soc. Publication, ii. § 3 παραδὸς τὸν κλέπτην τὸν κλέψαντά τι: ὅσον κρούω τὸ οὐάτιον (a rough drawing) σφύρῃ ταύτῃ ὁ τοῦ κλέπτου ὀφθαλμὸς καὶ φλεγμαινέσθω ἄχρι οὗ ἂν αὐτὸν μηνύσῃ: cf. the use of the ῥόμβος, Theocr. ii. 30.