328 THE MAGIC OF JEWELS AND CHARMS
Another and more ingenious explanation of this puzzle has, however, been given.18
Beginning with the last word "rotas," and taking the other words in
their order, it is proposed to read as follows: "The plough-wheels
(rotas), the laborer (opera), holds (tenet), creep after him (arepo),
I, the sower (sator)." The chief defect in this version appears to be
the assumption that "opera" can be rendered "laborer," an
interpretation which is, at best, supported by a doubtful use of the
word in that sense by Horace. This charm appears in an Italian
manuscript of the fourteenth century,19 where it is recommended to be used for the assurance of a speedy delivery.
Touching
the wonderful and mystic power attributed to the seven vowels of the
Greek alphabet by the Gnostics, C. W. King cites the following words
from the Pistis Sophia of Valentinus : *°
Nothing
therefore is more excellent than the mysteries which ye geek after,
saving only the mystery of the Seven Vowels and their forty and nine
Powers, and the Numbers thereof. And no name is more excellent than all
these [Vowels], a Name wherein be contained all Names and all Lights
and all Powers.
The
last sentence probably refers to the arrangement of these vowels often
met with in inscribed Gnostic talismans, the so-called Abraxas gems.
Here we often find them in the following order ΙΕ Hü or A, and
the sound of these vowels really suggests the conventional
pronunciation of the Hebrew name Jehovah (yehowah). The words quoted
from the Pistis Sophia are placed in the mouth of Jesus, and King calls
attention to the fact that in Greek the same word is used for voice and
vowel (φώνη). He therefore believes that
"King, "Early Christian Numismatics," London, 1873, p. 187.
"In the author's library.
" King, " Early Christian Numismatics," London, 1873, pp. 229, 230.
