MAGIC OF THE EGYPTIANS AND CHALDEANS.
All pagan antiquity speaks of magic and magicians, of magical
operations, and of superstitious, curious, and diabolical books.
Historians, poets, and orators are full of things which relate to this
matter: some believe in it, others deny it; some laugh at it, others
remain in uncertainty and doubt. Are they bad spirits, or deceitful
men, impostors and charlatans, who, by the subtilties of their art,
make the ignorant believe that certain natural effects are produced by
supernatural causes? That is the point on which men differ. But in
general the name of magic and magician is now taken in these days in
an odious sense, for an art which produces marvelous effects, that
appear above the common course of nature, and that by the operation of
the bad spirit.
The author of the celebrated book of Enoch, which had so great a
vogue, and has been cited by some ancient writers[145] as inspired
Scripture, says that the eleventh of the watchers, or of those angels
who were in love with women, was called Pharmacius, or Pharmachus;
that he taught men, before the flood, enchantments, spells, magic
arts, and remedies against enchantments. St. Clement, of Alexandria,
in his recognitions, says that Ham, the son of Noah, received that art
from heaven, and taught it to Misraim, his son, the father of the
Egyptians.
In the Scripture, the name of _Mage_ or _Magus_ is never used in a
good sense as signifying philosophers who studied astronomy, and were
versed in divine and supernatural things, except in speaking of the
Magi who came to adore Jesus Christ at Bethlehem.[146] Everywhere else
the Scriptures condemn and abhor magic and magicians.[147] They
severely forbid the Hebrews to consult such persons and things. They
speak with abhorrence of _Simon and of Elymas_, well-known magicians,
in the Acts of the Apostles;[148] and of the magicians of Pharaoh, who
counterfeited by their illusions the true miracles of Moses. It seems
likely that the Israelites had taken the habit in Egypt, where they
then were, of consulting such persons, since Moses forbids them in so
many different places, and so severely, either to listen to them or to
place confidence in their predictions.
The Chevalier Marsham shows very clearly that the school for magic
among the Egyptians is the most ancient ever known in the world; that
from thence it spread amongst the Chaldeans, the Babylonians, the
Greeks and Persians. St. Paul informs us that Jannes and Jambres,
famous magicians of the time of Pharaoh, resisted Moses. Pliny
remarks, that anciently, there was no science more renowned, or more
in honor, than that of magic: _Summam litterarum claritatem gloriamque
ex ea scientia antiquitus et pene semper petitam._
Porphyry[149] says that King Darius, son of Hystaspes, had so high an
idea of the art of magic that he caused to be engraved on the
mausoleum of his father Hystaspes, "_That he had been the chief and
the master of the Magi of Persia_."
The embassy that Balak, King of the Moabites, sent to Balaam the son
of Beor, who dwelt in the mountains of the East, towards Persia and
Chaldea,[150] to entreat him to come and curse and devote to death the
Israelites who threatened to invade his country, shows the antiquity
of magic, and of the magical superstitions of that country. For will
it be said that these maledictions and inflictions were the effect of
the inspiration of the good Spirit, or the work of good angels? I
acknowledge that Balaam was inspired by God in the blessings which he
gave to the people of the Lord, and in the prediction which he made of
the coming of the Messiah; but we must acknowledge, also, the extreme
corruption of his heart, his avarice, and all that he would have been
capable of doing, if God had permitted him to follow his bad
inclination and the inspiration of the evil spirit.
Diodorus of Sicily,[151] on the tradition of the Egyptians, says that
the Chaldeans who dwelt at Babylon and in Babylonia were a kind of
colony of the Egyptians, and that it was from these last that the
sages, or Magi of Babylon, learned the astronomy which gave such
celebrity.
We see, in Ezekiel,[152] the King of Babylon, marching against his
enemies at the head of his army, stop short where two roads meet, and
mingle the darts, to know by magic art, and the flight of these
arrows, which road he must take. In the ancients, this manner of
consulting the demon by divining wands is known--the Greeks call it
_Rhabdomanteia_.
The prophet Daniel speaks more than once of the magicians of Babylon.
King Nebuchadnezzar, having been frightened in a dream, sent for the
Magi, or magicians, diviners, aruspices, and Chaldeans, to interpret
the dream he had had.
King Belshazzar in the same manner convoked the magicians, Chaldeans,
and aruspices of the country, to explain to him the meaning of these
words which he saw written on the wall: _Mene_, _Tekel_, _Perez_. All
this indicates the habit of the Babylonians to exercise magic art, and
consult magicians, and that this pernicious art was held in high
repute among them. We read in the same prophet of the trickery made
use of by the priests to deceive the people, and make them believe
that their gods lived, ate, drank, spoke, and revealed to them hidden
things.
I have already mentioned the Magi who came to adore Jesus Christ;
there is no doubt that they came from Chaldea or the neighboring
country, but differing from those of whom we have just spoken, by
their piety, and having studied the true religion.
We read in books of travels that superstition, magic, and fascinations
are still very common in the East, both among the fire-worshipers
descended from the ancient Chaldeans, and among the Persians,
sectaries of Mohammed. St. Chrysostom had sent into Persia a holy
bishop, named Maruthas, to have the care of the Christians who were in
that country; the King Isdegerde having discovered him, treated him
with much consideration. The Magi, who adore and keep up the perpetual
fire, which is regarded by the Persians as their principal divinity,
were jealous at this, and concealed underground an apostate, who,
knowing that the king was to come and pay his adoration to the
(sacred) fire, was to cry out from the depth of his cavern that the
king must be deprived of his throne because he esteemed the Christian
priest as a friend of the gods. The king was alarmed at this, and
wished to send Maruthas away; but the latter discovered to him the
imposture of the priests; he caused the ground to be turned up where
the man's voice had been heard, and there they found him from whom it
proceeded.
This example, and those of the Babylonish priests spoken of by Daniel,
and that of some others, who, to satisfy their irregular passions,
pretended that their God required the company of certain women, proved
that what is usually taken for the effect of the black art is only
produced by the knavishness of priests, magicians, diviners, and all
kinds of persons who impose on the simplicity and credulity of the
people; I do not deny that the devil sometimes takes part in it, but
more rarely than is imagined.
Footnotes:
[145] Apud Syncell.
[146] Matt. iii. 1, 7, 36.
[147] Lev. xix. 31; xx.
[148] Acts viii. 9; xiii. 8.
[149] Porph. de Abstinent. lib. iv. Sec. 16. Vid. et Ammian. Marcell.
lib. xxiii.
[150] Numb. xxiii. 1-3.
[151] Diodor. Sicul. lib. i. p. 5.
[152] Ezek. xxi. 21.