Das Werk des christlichen Autors Sextus Iulius Africanus (ca. 160/170 - nach 240 u.Z.) umfaßt auch die Κεστοί (Verzierungen) mit einer Sammlung physikalischer, medizinischer und magischer Phänomene.
Das folgende Fragment ist von Michael Psellus überliefert:

God and Nature bring about conception – of this I am personally convinced. Africanus, on the other hand, says that procreation is also done by technique, and that procreation will take place according to this technique if the man about to have intercourse smears his genitals with rabbit’s blood or goose fat. In the former case, a male is born, in the latter a female [εἰ ὁ ἀνὴρ μἐλλων εἰς συνουσίαν ἐλθεῖν ἐπιχρίσει τὸ μόριον αἵματι λαγωοῦ ἢ χηνείῳ στέατι^. ἀλλ’ ἐκείνως μὲν ἄρρεν, οὕτως δὲ θῆλυ].

(Iulius Africanus: Cesti. The Extant Fragments. Edited by Martin Wallraff, Carlo Scardino, Laura Mecella and Christophe Guignard. Berlin/Boston 2012, pp. 10 sq.)