66 sapien 'genus μаvτiкòν kaì Jɛòλoyov, &c. ;" and Cicero, That renowned wisdom of the Magi in Persia, Media, and the neighbouring countries, therefore, contained also the secret teachings of philosophy and the sciences, which were only communicated to priests, who were regarded as mediators between God and man, and as such, and on account of their knowledge, were highly respected. It is easily to be imagined that, as the subtle workings of nature, and the movements of the heavenly bodies, were perfectly unknown by the people, the idea of magic, which was always connected with astrology, should be readily formed. The Magi are to be met with in the most ancient traditions of the Old World. India, Persia, Chaldea, and Egypt, were the cradles of the oldest magic. Zoroaster, Ostanes, the Brahmins, the Chaldean sages, and the Egyptian priests, were the primitive possessors of its secrets. The priestly and sacrificial functions, healing of the sick, and the preservation of secret wisdom, were the objects of their life. They were either princes_themselves, or surrounded princes as their counsellors. Justice, truth, and the power of selfsacrifice, were the great qualities with which each one of these must be endowed. The neglect of any one of these virtues was punished in the most cruel manner. Cambyses, for instance, commanded the execution of a priest who had allowed himself to be bribed, and had his skin stretched over the chair in which his son and successor sat in his judicial capacity. That magic was very early associated with medicine is shewn by Pliny (Hist. Nat. lib. xxx. c. 1), who even traces its origin to that science: "natam primum e medicina nemo dubitat magiam.' However, this idea was not always connected with it. Plato understood by wisdom nothing less than a worship of the Divinity, Θεραπεία θεῶν, and Apuleius says that "Magus means, in the Persian language, a Priest,"-"nam si, quod ego apud plurimos lego, Persarum lingua magus est, qui nostra sacerdos; sin vero more vulgari eum proprie magum existimant, qui communione loquendi cum diis immortalibus ad omnia, quæ velit, polleat.' The common belief, however, was that which included all occult science under the name of magic. Later, under this title, was understood enchantment and any ex traordinary operations, such as making gold, exorcising spirits, &c., so that magic was divided into white and black: to the latter belonged, reading the hand, evil-eye, power over the elements, and the transformation of human beings into animals. says, Magic has often been erroneously considered as exclusively of Persian origin, which error Plato appears to have originated. He "When the boy is fourteen years of age, those take charge of him who are called Royal instructors. These are four of the oldest and most distinguished men ; one the wisest, the second the most just, the third the most moderate, and the fourth the bravest. One of these instructs him in the magic of Zoroaster, the son of Oromazes, which is the service of the Gods." It is certain that Plato did not understand by this the present acceptation of the term ; for he could not include, among the services of the gods, the power of changing men into animals or demons. This meaning was only given to it by the New Platonic theory, which, with the Cabbalah, became the principal source from which the theosophic and theurgic teachings, as well as the later belief in magic, have sprung. So says Hierocles (in Aur. Carm. p. 306, ed. Lond. 1742.) "The customs of religion are means to obtain the telestian virtues, by which men became demons." The theories of spiritual apparitions, and the transition of demons into the human body, take their rise in the philosophy of Heraclitus; according to whom, demons are attracted by matter. It was thus that, later, the commonly received idea of magic arose; the possession of supernatural powers, such as belong to the higher spirits, and which they occasionally impart to men, under certain circumstances. Among the supernatural powers was reckoned that of predicting the future, and that of acting directly upon others, even at a distance; and on this account magic may be separated into seeing and acting. The original, and the higher description of magic was, in fact, grounded on this aphorism: "Man may become, by the assistance and co-operation of spiritual powers, and the capacities of his higher divine origin, capable of a higher sphere of activity, as well without as within himself, which gives him dominion over his own, and over surrounding nature." Taken in this sense, ; we find magic, in the earliest ages, as one of the prominent, universal properties of man; not alone in Persia, but throughout the whole East, although Persia and Chaldea may possibly have been its most fruitful and congenial ground. In this sense, Pythagoras and his disciples were, at a later period, considered as teachers of good or wise magic. The lower, or black magic, however, originated in the early times and man, becoming conscious of his unusual powers, and without knowing their boundaries, was easily inclined to ascribe them to foreign and supernatural influences-to demons; and, according to his nature, he would use them for good or evil purposes, either deceived himself, or, as a magician, deceiving others. Everything which could be considered as wonderful, as the incomprehensible workings of natural powers in the magnet, or the divinatory wand, or any surprising action, was considered, at a later period, as magic, and particularly as black magic, or the black art. We will now regard ancient magic more closely, and that from historical sources; afterwards its more important branches, particularly visions, soothsaying, and influence through the mind, through words (verbum mirificum), and by means of amulets. That magic descended by tradition from the early ages, is shown everywhere by the primitive records of the human race. It is so intimately connected with the nature of man, that we can only feel surprised that the learned should doubt it, and think it requisite to ascribe everything to Mythos; as if tradition had no deeper or firmer foundation. Thus it was that Eberhart maintained (Berliner Monatschrift, 1787) that he had discovered the sources of magical art, and its theory, in the Platonic Mythos of Timæus, and that no tradition reaches any higher. According to him, the germ of the New Platonic theory, of the Cabbalah, of Theosophy and Magic, even down to the time of Mesmer and his adherents, may be discovered in it. According to Eberhart, a fiction is a myth, "which is accepted on account of its supernatural teachings, or its antiquity, and which is therefore regarded as an undisputed fact, because its real origin is far beyond the perception, or circle of vision, of those who believe in it." By such a course of reasoning, it would not be difficult to understand everything, and even if any one fact defied explanation, it might be pushed back upon Mythos, till any one chose to bring it back again to daylight. In the same degree that Eberhart gets rid of magic with the greatest ease, so does another writer extend its bounds till it includes that which never had any connection with it. According to Tiedemann (Disputatio de quæstione, quæ fuerit artium magicarum origo, Marb. 1787, p. 7), "The powers of magic are expressly these:-to cure sickness with very little medicine, or without any; to know future and hidden things; to find buried treasure of gold and silver; in short, to understand all nature, and to do everything that is great and magnificent. It is easy to see, from this, how magic may be divided; wherever a boundary is reached, and wherever a new fact is met with, there will also be a new class of magic: the most important, however, are the various kinds of soothsaying, the power of causing and euring diseases, of exorcising spirits, and understanding alchemy." Although we do not associate with magic the gipsy art of reading the hand, and the science of making gold, or discovering the philosopher's stone, yet it comprises much more than that which the reason of a sensible person might allow to pass unquestioned, or reject as pure nonsense and absurdity; and this is that wonderful power of the human mind, to look into the future, or influence others without material means. This natural power of man is, however, not frequently met with, and is not of that kind which every mind is able to appreciate according to its value and power. The knowledge of such rare phenomena, and their causes, could, therefore, in remote times, only be known to the highest sages and rulers, who preserved it among their secret learning, and transmitted it to their children under that cloak of religion with which all their secrets were covered. As we have original, though meagre, records of the mythological belief of the oldest nations of Asia, it will be necessary to see where and of what kind they are. The Grecian mythology is a later and certainly mixed source, and if we received it as contained in the Platonic Mythos, we should be far from the light of truth. Plato, in his Philosophical Dialogues,-as, for instance, in that on the various states of the human soul, &c.,-does not treat of the subject from a mythic and historic point of view, but rather endeavours by his investigations to make a beautiful whole, to leave no portion of his theory, and to make it agreeable both to probability and popular belief. Just as little need we look for the source of magic to the new Platonic philosophies, which derived the ideas of the macrocosm and the microcosm from Plato's Timæus, the Pythagoraic Philosophy of Demons, that of Heraclitus concerning spirits, and maintained the sympathy of the human body with the earth and with the miraculous powers of pictures and statues, and ascribed great virtue to certain words for raising spirits. Neither from the later Christian history of magic, and the middle ages the Sylphs, Gnomes, Nymphs, and Salamanders of Paracelsus, borrowed from Plato's Phædrus, or Agrippa's Occulta Philosophia, or Faust's "Compulsion of Hell," or Petro de Albano's Heptameron,-shall we have any aid. It is, however, certain, that in all the later as well as in the earlier Platonic-Pythagorean mythical speculations, some truth formed the basis, while beyond that everything is but the empty fancy and dreaming of superstition. To convince ourselves of this we will return to the earlier ages of the East-to the nations of Egypt, and seek in their records, as well as in the Israelitish history, for traces of magic, of mental vision and activity. The subjects which will be discussed I shall endeavour to arrange in historical order; that, as a whole, they may firstly have reference to the nature of our magic; and secondly, that each fact may throw as much light as possible upon the others. We have no immediate and authentic source to which we may refer for the myths and mysteries of the ancient nations, and yet the study must be carried farther back than it is at present, to the Fathers of the Church, and the Gnostics, or even to Plato. Among the Egyptians and Orientals, we find but fragments, though in such numbers that we are able to decide that it is among the nations of the East that we must search for earlier traces, and even for their origin. We shall subsequently endeavour to prove more fully this proposition. According to the latest investigations, the very earliest records are to be met with in the Zendavesta, the 1 |