Note 13 — Chapter II
Reading edition
Clement of Alexandria gives a full account of the various stories respecting this idol, Protrept. c. iv. p. 42 (ed. Potter); moreover an etymology and legend to match, Strom. lib. i. p. 383.
Certain sorts of wood and metal were supposed peculiarly appropriate to certain deities. The art of the theurgist consisted partly in ascertaining the virtues of such substances; and it was supposed that statues constructed of a particular combination of materials, correspondent with the tastes and attributes of the deity represented, possessed a mysterious influence attracting the Power in question, and inducing him to take up his residence within the image. Iamblichus lays down this principle of sympathy in the treatise De Mysteriis, v. 23, p. 139 (ed. Gale, 1678). Kircher furnishes a description of this statue of Serapis, Œdip. Ægypt. i. 139.