[55] Lyall, Natural Religion in India, p. 52.
[56] Davis, China, ii. 7. Cf. Edkins, op. cit. p. 178.
[57] Edkins, op. cit. p. 75.
[58] See Schmidt, Die Ethik der alten Griechen, ii. 24 sqq.
[59] Lecky, History of European Morals, i. 493. Cf. Dio Cassius, Historia Romana, lii. 36.
[60] Lecky, op. cit. i. 408 sqq. Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire, p. 346 sqq. See also supra, [i. 345 sq.]; [ii. 178 sq.]
The same difference in toleration between monotheistic and polytheistic religions shows itself in their different attitudes towards witchcraft. A monotheistic religion is not necessarily averse from magic; its god may be supposed to have created magical as well as natural energy, and also to have given mankind permission to utilise it in a proper manner. Both Christianity in its earlier phases and Muhammedanism are full of magical practices expressly sanctioned by their theology—for instance, the use made of sacred words and of the relics of saints. But besides this sort of magic there is another kind—witchcraft, in the narrow sense of the term,—which is ascribed to the assistance of exorcised spirits, regarded not as the willing agents but as the adversaries of God; and this practice is naturally looked upon as highly offensive to His feelings. In Christianity witchcraft was esteemed the most horrible form of impiety.[61] The religious law of the Hebrews—which generally prohibited all practices that savoured of idolatry, such as soothsaying and oracles—punished witches and wizards with death.[62] Islam disapproves of all magic which is practised with the assistance of evil spirits, or jinn, although such magic is very prevalent and popularly tolerated in Muhammedan countries.[63] Among polytheistic peoples, again, witchcraft is certainly in many cases treated with great severity; a large number of uncivilised races punish it with death,[64] and among some of them it is the only offence which is capital.[65] But then witchcraft is punished because it is considered destructive to human life or welfare.[66] “In Africa,” says Mr. Rowley, “there is what is regarded as lawful as well as unlawful witchcraft, the lawful being practised professedly for the welfare of mankind, and in opposition to the unlawful, which is resorted to for man’s injury.” But “the purposes of witchcraft are now generally wicked; its processes generally involve moral guilt; the spirits invoked are, for the most part, avowedly evil and maleficent.”[67] Among the Gaika tribe of the Kafirs “witchcraft is supposed to be an influence for evil, possessed by one individual over another, or others.”[68] Among the Bondeis “the meaning of witchcraft is simply murder.”[69] That witchcraft, as a malicious practice, must be a grave and at the same time frequent offence among savages, is obvious from the common belief that death, disease, and misfortunes of every description are caused by it. From a similar point of view it is condemned by polytheistic nations of a higher type. Among the Aztecs of ancient Mexico anybody who employed sorcery or incantations for the purpose of doing harm to the community or to individuals was sacrificed to the gods.[70] The Chinese Penal Code punishes with death those who have been convicted of writing and editing books of sorcery, or of employing spells and incantations, “in order to agitate and influence the minds of the people.”[71] But, according to Mr. Dennys, the hatred of witches and wizards cherished in the West does not seem to exist in China; “those reputed to possess magic powers are regarded with dread, but it is rare to hear of any of them coming to untimely end by mob violence.”[72] The Laws of Ḫammurabi, the ancient Babylonian legislator, enjoin that “if a man weave a spell and put a ban upon a man, and has not justified himself, he that wove the spell upon him shall be put to death.”[73] It is said in ‘Vishnu Purâna’ that he who practises magical rites “for the harm of others” is punished in the hell called Krimîsa.[74] Among the ancient Teutons not every kind of magic but only such as was considered of injurious nature was criminal.[75] In Rome, also, what was deemed harmless magic was left undisturbed, whereas, according to the ‘Law of the Twelve Tables,’ “he who affects another by magical arts or with poisonous drugs” is to be put to death;[76] and during the Empire persons were severely persecuted for political astrology or divination practised with a view to discovering the successors to the throne.[77] Plato, writes in his ‘Laws’:—“He who seems to be the sort of man who injures others by magic knots or enchantments or incantations or any of the like practices, if he be a prophet or divine, let him die; and, if not being a prophet, he be convicted of witchcraft, as in the previous case, let the court fix what he ought to pay or suffer.”[78] As Mr. Lecky justly remarks, both in Greece and Rome the measures taken against witchcraft seem to have been almost entirely free from religious fanaticism, the magician being punished because he injured man and not because he offended God.[79] Sometimes we find even among a polytheistic people that sorcery is particularly opposed by its priesthood;[80] but the reason for this is no doubt hatred of rivals rather than religious zeal. Miss Kingsley, however, does not think that the dislike of witchcraft in West Africa at large has originally anything to do with the priesthood.[81]
[61] Lea, History of the Inquisition, iii. 422, 453. Pollock and Maitland, History of English Law before the Time of Edward I. ii. 552 sqq. Milman, op. cit. ix. 69. Lecky, Rise and Influence of Rationalism in Europe, i. 26. Keary, Outlines of Primitive Belief among the Indo-European Races, p. 511 sqq. Rogers, Social Life in Scotland, iii. 265, 268. Ralston, Songs of the Russian People, pp. 386, 416 sq.
[62] Exodus, xxii. 18. Leviticus, xix. 26, 31; xx. 6, 27. Deuteronomy, xviii. 10 sqq.
[63] Polak, Persien, i. 348. Lane, Modern Egyptians, i. 333.