CHAPTER V.

Magic — Antiquity and universality of the belief in Magic — Ita operationB attributed equally to the principle of evil and of good — It was not considered by the ancients to imply the subversion of the order of nature — Its truth was not disputed even when emanating from the disciples of an inimical religion.
Time, the only power which refuses to regard any thing as invariable, sports with creeds, as it does with facts ; it passes on ; and, in leaving traces on its steps of the vestiges of obsolete opinions, we are astonished to find expressions once nearly synonymous, now differing yery widely with respect to the ideas which they are intended to convey.
During a long period of time the world was governed by Magic. An art, which, as the sublimity of its origin was credited, appeared little less than a participation in the powers of Divinity; and which, at the commencement of our era, was even admired by religious philosophers " as the science which unveils the operations of Nature,* and leads to the contemplation of celestial powers, "t
* Phil. Jud, lib, De specialilnts Legibus, t Idem, lib. Quod omnis probus liber, VOL. I. H
98 ORIGIN OF MAGIC.
A hundred and fi% years later than the period just mentioned^ the number of its professors, and still more the worthlessness of the diarlatans, who made it their trade, held magic up to the contempt of all enlightened men. So much, indeed, was this the case, that Philos- tratus in his biography of Apollonius of Tyana,""" asserts with eagerness, that his hero was no magician.! In resuming its importance, during the darkness of the middle ages. Magic became an object of horror and dread : but the progress of knowledge, and the dawn of truth, in the last and in the present age, has again reduced it to an object of ridicule.
The Greeks gave the title of Magic to the sdenoe, in which they had been instructed by the Magi ;\ and they
* This Apollonius, for there were many of the name, was a Pythagorian, and an assumed magician, who gained much reputa- tion by a few remarkable coincidences which seemed to establish bis pretended power events were transacting in distant coimtries, at the time he was relating them. Thus, at the very moment the Emperor Domi- tian was stabbed, Apollonius stopped short in the middle of a harangue he was delivering at Ephesus, and exclaimed : " Strike thet3rnmt — strike him ;" and when the news of the assassination afterwards arrived, he asserted that he had seen the transaction passing in his mind's eye. Although one of the most impudent impostors of his period, yet he was courted by Princes, and com- manded almost universal homage. The stories told of his super- natural power by Philostratus are utterly unworthy of belief. — Ed.
t Phihstrat. Vit. Apollon. lib. i. cap i. et ii.
X The Mobeds, priests of the Guebers, or Parsees, are still named Magoi in the Pehivi dia^ct.— Zend-Avesta, vol. ii. p. 506 ; and chap. xz.
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thus established to the founder of that religion the claim, to its invention. But, according to Ammianus Mar- oellinus,* Zoroaster had no other merit than that of making considerable additions to the art of Magic, as it was practised by the Chaldeans.t In the wars carried on against Ninus by Zoroaster, who was King of Baetria, Amobeusi afiBrms that on both sides magical arts were employed in common with more ordinary weapons. The prophet of the Arieni, acoording to the traditions, pre- served by his disciples, was sulgect from the cmdie to the persecutions of. magicians ; and just before his birth the world teemed with these pretenders to supernatural power.^ Saint Epiphanius II relates thatNimrod in founding Bactria,
* Amian, MarceU, lib. xxvi. cap. vi.— An historian of the time of Constantine who wrote a history of Rome ; and who, although a pagan, and consequently favourable to polytheisms yet was moderate in his censure of Christiamty. — Ed. t The period in which Zoroaster, or Zerduster, is supposed to have lived is uncertain but his religious system became that of Western Asia from the time of Cyrus to the conquest of Persia by Alexander the Ghreat. The doctrine of a good and an evil prineiple was thefoun- dation of his religious system. He taught that both were created by the Almi^ty ; but that man and all the materials of happiness were created by the good spirit, who was named Ormuzd; whilst the latter, Ahrinnan, introduced all the evils abounding in this world. The Magi were the sacerdotal elass in ancient Persia : they wor- shipped fire, and the sun as the emblems of Ormuzd. — Ed.
t Amob. lib. x.
4 Life of Zoroasten Zend-^Aveeia, tome i. Second part : p. 10, 18, &c.
il S. Mpiphan, advers. haerea. lib. i. tom. 1.— Saint Epiphanius, although a Christian Bishop, yet was bom of Jewish parents at Besanducan, near EleutheropoUs in Palestine. In early
H 2 ^
100 ORIGIN OF MAGIC.
established there the sciences of Magic, and of astro- nomy, the invention of which was subsequently attributed to Zoroaster. Cassien speaks of a Treatise on Magic,""" which existed in the fifth century, and which is attri- buted to Ham, the son of Noah ! The Father of the Church, just quoted, places the commencement of Magic and of enchantments as far back as the time of Jared, the fourth from Seth, the son of Adam.
Magic holds a prominent place in the traditions of the Hebrews. The ancient inhabitants of the land of Canaan had incurred the divine wrath, by their use of enchantments.f The Amalekites fighting with the Hebrews,! in their flight from Egypt, and Balaam besieged in his city by the King of the Ethiopians, and subsequently by Moses, $ alike recurred to Magic, as a
life he was a disciple of the Gnostics in Egypt ; was made Bishop of Salamis, the metropolis of Cyprus, in the year 368, and died at sea, a.d. 403. His writings are valuable as containing many quotations from works no longer extant. Jerome affirms that he was well acquainted with the Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Syriac and Egyptian languages, and calls him Pentaglottos, the five-tongued ; but Scaliger doubts his learning, and asserts that he committed the greatest blunder, and told the greatest fedse- hoods. — Ed.
* Cassien, Cor^eren, lib. j. cap. xxi.
t Wisdom of SQlomon* '* Whom thou hatest for doing most odious works of witchcraft, and wicked sacrifices ; and also those merciless mmrderers of children, and devourers of man's flesh, and the feasts of blood ; with their priests out of the midst of their idolatrous crew ; and the parents that killed with their own hands souls destitute of help. — Chap. xii. ver. 4, 5, 6.
X De vita^ et morte Mosis, &c. p. 35.
§ iW(/.p.'l8--21.|
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mode of defence.'**' The priests of Egypt were looked upon even in Hindostan, as the most subtle of all magicians. Not less versed than themselves in the secrets of their scienoe^f the wife of Pharoah was able to communicate its mysteries to the remarkable child saved from the waters of the Nile by her daughter ; and who, " learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, was mighty in words and in deeds."} Justin, agreeing with Trogilius Pompeius, relates that, Joseph having been carried into Egypt as a slave, acquired there the arts of Magic, which enabled him to foresee, and to avert the horrors of famine, which, without this interposition, must have depopulated that beautiful kingdom.^
From the earliest ages. Magic has obtained the highest consideration in Hindostan. M. Horst^ esta- blishes the truth, that the collection of the Vedas contains many magical writings. He remarks that the laws of Menou, in the Code published by Sir William
* Les Mitte et une Nuits, 507e Nuit, (traduction d'Edouard Gttuthkr), tome vii. p. 38.
t Be Vita et Morte Mosia, &c. note, p. 199.
X Acts of the Apostles, cap. vii. vers. 22.
$ Justin, lib. xxxvi. cap. ii.*
f M. jGhreg. Conrad Horst, published in 1820 and 1821, The Library p/ Magic, 2 vols. I have not been able to consult the. German original, what I quote from it here, and in the 4th chapter, is obtamed from a notice which the erudite M. P. A. Stapfer has had the kindness to communicate to me.
• That Joseph might have acquired some of the learning of the Egyptians, and even a knowledge of Magic is not improbable ; but Justin has no authority for referring his foresight of the famine which he predicted, and provided for, to that art.— Ed.
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Jonesi mention various magical ceremonies, which are permitted to be employed by the Brahmanst, (chap. ix. p. 11.) There exists also in Hindostan, a belief not less ancient, and which likewise prevails in China ; that, by the practice of certain austerities, the penitent acquires an invincible, and truly magical power over the elements, over men, and even over the powers of Heaven. The Hindoo Mythology in many places, represents penitents dictating laws, and inflicting pu^- nishments on the Supreme Divinity.
If, from the East, we carry our inquiry Westward and towards the North, we find Magic bearing equal marks of ascendancy, and of high antiquity. Under its name, *' Occult Science f^* it was known to the Druids of Great Britain"**" and those of Gaul.t Odin, so soon as he had founded his religion in Scandinavia, was regarded there as the inventor of Magic.} Yet how many had preceded him ! Voeleurs or Volveims,^ priestesses well
* Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. xxx, cap. j.
t Ibid, lib. xvif cap. xiv; lib. xxiv, cap. xi; lib. xxv. cap. IX ; lib. xxix, cap. iii.
I Odin flourished about seventy years b.c, as a conqueror, a priest, and a monarch. He took advantage of the ignorance and credulity of his countrymen, the Scandinavians, to impose upon them the most absurd ideas of his supernatural power. He fell by his own hands ; and in dying, promised eternal felicity to such of his followers as should lead a virtuous life, fight with intrepi- dity, and die in the field of battle. — Ed.
§ The Gothic women were supposed to possess, in a pecuhar degree, the hcolty of looking into futurity ; on which account, those amongst them who made profession of magic and divination, were every where received with respect and honour. On this fact, the Vegtam*8 Kivithh, or Descent of Odin, so admirably translated
ORIGIN OF MAGIC. 103
versed in Magic, were assodated with the ancient reli- gion, which Odin attempted either to destroy or to remodel.'"' The first tales of Saxo QrammaticoSi are connected with times greatly: anterior to the age of Odin; there are few of them which do not contain a display of magical power.
Erudition and physiological criticisms bare arrived at a point of perfection which renders it 8iq)erfiuou8 to discuss the question, whether a knowledge of the Occult Sciences was obtained by the Northern tribes, from the Greeks and Romans. There is sufficient reason for saying that they were not ;t and there can be litde doubt that the Greeks and Romans were but the imperfect sdiolars of
by Grey, the Poet, is founded. Odin wends his way to Niflheliar, the hell of the Goths, to consult Hela, the Goddess of Death, who, in life, had been one of these prophetesses.
Right against the eastern gate. By the moss grown pile he sate ; Where long of yore to sleep was laid The dust of the prophetic maid.
His object was to know the fate of his son. Balder, who was sick, and for whose life he was alarmed. — £d.
* Munter, On the most ancient religion of the North, be/ore the time of Odin. Dissertation ewtraite par M. Depping, M^moires de la Soci^t^des Antiquaires de France, tome ii, p. 230, 231.
t M. Tiedman has put this truth beyond a doubt. See his Prize Dissertation in 1787, crowned by the Academy of G6t- tingen. De Quastione qua /writ arUum magicarum artium origo ; quomodo ilia, ab Asia pqpulis ad Gracos atque Romanes, atque ab his ab coEteras gentes sint propagata quibusque rationibus addueti fuerint ii qui, ad nostra usque tempora, easdem vel defenderent, vel oppugnarent? (Marpurg, 4to. p. 94 et 95.) I have taken advan- tage more than once of this excellent Dissertation by Tiedman.
104 ORIGIN OF MAGIC.
the sages of Egypt, of Asia, and of Hinddstan. At VfhaX period the communications of the priests of the Ganges, with the Druids of Gaul, or the Scalds of Scandinavia took place, it is difficult to determine. He who can develop the origin of superstition, and of the human sciences, may be supposed also capable of informing us of the source of Magic. But in reference to the period in which Magic was assiduously studied, we are taught to believe that the sages attempted to govern nature by means of science, in the name of the principle of all good; and at another, by the art of working miracles through invocations of the evil powers. This distinction of equal and unequal powers, operating against one another, being sometimes productive of similar results, may be traced in the history of Zoroaster, and in that of the Hindoo Mythology ; and such must always be the case where men of opposing interests are endowed with the same resources. Who were the evil genii ? The Gods and the priests of rival religions. This omen, or that miracle, still in fact the same, was attributed to, by one set, to the intervention of Heaven, by another, to the interposition of the infernal demon ; according as parti- cular opinions prevailed, or according to the locality where they occurred.
To this direct opposition respecting the origin of miracles, alternately the objects of adoration and of abhorrence to the superstitious, was allied the unani- mous concurrence as to their reality. The general assent of mankind, is said to be an irrefragable proof of truth ;* and we may ask when was this assent ever * Consensus omnium populorum, &,c.
NATURE OF MAGIC. 105
given with greater decision, than in favour of the existence of Magic, or the science of working miracles, by whatever name it is designated, by whatever title we adorn it ? For thousands of years, civilized nations as well as the most barbarous tribes, if we except a few savage hordes, cherished, denoimced, and endeavoured to protect themselves against the power, which they believed was granted to some men to change the com- mon course of nature, through the medium of certain mysterious operations. We say the common course of nature, because it is important to remark that the doctrines of the Ancients regarding apparent mira- cles, and their generally admitted opinions, differ materially from those which the Modems of the West appear to have formed for themselves, and according to which the attempt to explain a miracle is, in effect, to deny it. The theory that a miracle bespeaks a sub- version, or a suspension of the laws of nature, may have been first admitted by fear or astonishment, and after- wards continued by ignorance and want of reflection ; but, against this admission, both reason and scepticism are speedily armed. In this sense there exists no miracle. Under our very eyes a conjurer has apparently revived a man, who has been beheaded ; and Aelian relates that Esculapius reunited the heart of a woman to her corpse, and restored to her both life and health.*
The Kurdes or Ali-Oulahies^ who worship Ali, the son-in-law of Mahomet, as au incarnation of the Deity, ascribe a similar miracle to him; and it has * Aelian, De Nat, Animal, lib. ix, cap. xxxiii.
106 ART OF THE JUGGLER NOT MAGIC.
been still more recently asserted, that a noble magician possessed the secret of performing it.* Admitted among the spectators, a philosopher woidd at first be suspicious of imposture^ He would recollect how much the address of the mere juggler may affect. A juggler, very recently, indeed, exhibited to the public, the spectade of apparently beheading a man, as he lay upon the stage, in such a manner as to produce very painful feelings in the spectators.! He displayed the severed head to convince the sceptical, and even invited them to touch it ; to open the mouth which shut again of its own accord, and to examine the bleeding section of the neck at the extremity of the trunk. He afterwards with* drew a curtain; and, almost immediately, the living man re-appeared. Now, let us suppose the juggler to be above the suspicion of chicanery, the sceptic might say : ''I presumed the thing to be impossible, but it appears that I was wrong, if my senses are not spell- bound by some insurmountable illusion. I admit tiiat the fact, if once established, becomes a valuable acqui- sition to science ; but before I can recognize a miracle in it, I must have the demonstration, that the thing could not occur, except God himself should reverse the order of his own fixed laws. At present, your proof
* Fromann, IVact de Fatcin, &c., p. 635, 636. Rabelais, a philosopher, who under the mark of folly, has so many times exalted reason, seems to have had in his view this imposture. He displays to us Panurge completely curing one of his companions in arms, who had had his head cut off in battle. {Pantagruei, liv. II, chap. xxx).
t At Nancy, in 1829.
ANCIENT OPINION OF A MIRACLE. 107
reaches no further, than what is afforded by my pro- bably deceived sight, and your skUfobiess."
By presuming the existence of a thing, on the ground of its possibility, the Ancients, inspired with religious gratitude, did not require that the apparent miracle which astohlshed them should be of a descrip- tion to subvert the order of nature ; every unexpected succour in urgent necessity was t^eceived by them as a direct benefit fi'om the Gods ; all that implied worth, prudence, or learning superior to that of ordinary men, was ascribed by them to aii intimate participati the divine essence, or at least to a superhuman inspi- ration, of which the Superior Being, who displayed these gifts, was the first to boast. In ancient Greece, the wonderfiil exploits of great men Were rewarded by gaining for them the title of heroes, a term synonymous with that of Demi'Oods; and, also by conferring upon the hero of divine honours.
If the remembrance of this ancient and universal belief were preserved among us, we should censure less severely Homer and other poets of antiquity, for the repeated intervention of the Gods; the narrative of the poet expresses, in the clearest manner, the sentimdntof the hero, who having been saved from imminent peril, or crowned by a signal victory, imputes these advantages to the God, who deigns to act as his guardian and to be his guide. Actuated by such a belief, which assimilates perfectly with our hypothesis, regarding the origin of civiliza- tion,* the religious man does not perceive any necessity
* De la Civilisation, liv. i, chap. vii.
108 ANCIENT OPINION OF A MIRACLE.
for ascribing imposture to the miracles cited in favour of the revelations of other sects; he neither exposes himself to dangerous recriminations, nor does he listen to any retaliation with regard to his own creed, or to argu- ments tending to weaken that human testimony, on which is founded our faith in all these extraordinary events, which we have not personally witnessed. The priests and the Magi, of religions the most widely different, unhesitatingly adoiowledged the assumed miracles performed by their adversaries. On several occasions, Zoroaster entered the lists with necromancers inimical to his new doc- trines : — ^he did not deny their power, but he surpassed them in performing wonders; and he asserted that whilst they were executed by the power of the Dews, emanations of the principle of evil ; he established the truth of his assertions by maintaining that he surpassed them only through the aid of the principle of good.*
*• Anquetil. Vie de Zoroaster, Zend-Avesta, tome i> partie ii, passim.
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