Three kinds of divination were chiefly cultivated by the Magi; necromancy, which appears to have been twofold; the predicting of future events by the inspection of dead bodies, and the invoking of departed spirits, which were forced to unfold the dark decrees of fate—a science which has in all ages been almost universally diffused over the earth; lecanomancy, by which demons, in obedience to certain powerful songs, were obliged to enter a vessel filled with water, and to answer whatever questions were put to them; and hydromancy, which differs from lecanomancy in this, that the voice of the demon was not heard, but his form was perceptible in the water, in which he represented, either by means of his satellites, or by written verses, the cause and issue of any particular event. Whether the celebrated Zoroaster was acquainted with these three species, cannot be well determined. He has been called the inventor of magic; with what justice, is quite as doubtful. It has been inferred, and perhaps with greater plausibility, that he did not as much invent as methodize the art. He may likewise have so extended its bounds as to eclipse the fame of his predecessors; and from that, as well as from the other consideration, the honour of the invention may have been assigned him.
Indians.—Of Indian magic we know even less than we do of that exercised by any other ancient nation. We have however reason to conclude that much of it was similar to that for which the magi, from whom it was probably derived, were held in so high estimation. But the divination of the Indians differed in one respect from that of all other people; they admitted in it affairs of public moment, but rigorously excluded it from all private concerns. The reason of this prohibition probably was, that the science was esteemed too sacred to be employed on the ordinary occurrences of life. Their Gymnosophists, or Brachmans, (it is not clear that there was any distinction between them) were regarded with as much reverence as the magi, and were probably more worthy of it. Some of them dwelt in woods, and others in the immediate vicinity of cities. They performed the ceremonies of religion; by them indeed kings worshipped the deities of the country; not a few pretended to superior powers, to cure diseases by enchantments, and to foretel future events by the stars; but generally speaking, they were a useful and honourable body of men. Their skill in medicine was great: the care which they took in educating youth, in familiarizing it with generous and virtuous sentiments, did them peculiar honour; and their maxims and discourses, as recorded by historians, (if indeed those historians be deserving of full credit) prove that they were much accustomed to profound reflection on the principles of civil polity, morality, religion, and philosophy. They preserved their dignity under the sway of the most powerful princes, whom they would not condescend to visit, or to trouble for the slightest favour. If the latter desired the advice or the prayers of the former, they were obliged either to go themselves, or to send messengers.
Egyptians.—The Egyptians also had their magicians from the remotest antiquity. Though these magicians were unable to contend with Moses, they were greatly superior to the Chaldean Astrologers, the Persian Magi, and the Indian Gymnosophists; they appear to have possessed a deeper insight into the arcana of nature than any other professors of the art. By what extraordinary powers their rods were changed into serpents, the waters of the Nile into blood, and the land of Egypt covered with frogs, has much perplexed wise and good men. Of all the methods of solution which the learning and piety of either Jewish or Christian commentators have applied to this difficult problem, none appears so consonant with the meaning of the sacred text, and at the same time liable to so few objections, as this; that the magicians were not, in the present case, impostors, and that they really accomplished, by means of supernatural agents, the wonders recorded by the inspired penman[[26]]. Earth, air, and ocean, may contain many things of which our philosophy has never dreamt. If this consideration should humble the pride of learning, it may remind the Christian that secret things belong not to him, but to a higher power.
It was maintained by the Egyptians that besides the Gods, there were many demons which communicated with mortals, and which were often rendered visible by certain ceremonies and songs; that genii exercised an habitual and powerful influence over every particle of matter; that thirty-six of these beings presided over the various members of the human body; and that by magical incantations it might be strengthened, or debilitated[[27]], afflicted with, or delivered from diseases. Thus, in every case of sickness, the spirit of presiding over the afflicted part, was first duly invoked. But the magicians did not trust solely to their vain invocations; they were well acquainted with the virtues of certain herbs, which they wisely employed in their attempts at healing. These herbs were greatly esteemed: thus the cynocephalia, or as the Egyptians themselves termed the asyrites, which was used as a preventive against witchcraft; and the nepenthes, which Helen presented in a potion to Menelaus, and which was believed to be powerful in banishing sadness, and in restoring the mind to its accustomed, or even to greater cheerfulness, were of Egyptian growth[[28]]. But whatever might be the virtues of such herbs, they were used rather for their magical than for their medicinal qualities; every cure was cunningly ascribed to the presiding demons, with which not a few boasted that they were, by means of their art, intimately connected.
The Egyptian amulets are certainly not so ancient as the Babylonian Talisman, but in their uses they were exactly similar. Some little figures, supposed to have been intended as charms, have been formed on several mummies, which have at various times been brought into Europe. Plutarch informs us, that the soldiers wore rings, on which the representation of an insect, resembling our beetle, was inscribed; and we learn from Ælian, that the judges had always suspended round their necks a small image of truth formed of emeralds[[29]]. The superstitious belief in the virtues of Amulets is far from extinct in the present age; the Cophts, the Arabians, and Syrians, and, indeed, almost all the inhabitants of Asia, west of the Ganges, whether Christians or Mahometans, still use them against possible evils.
The descendants of the Pharaohs, like the Chaldean kings, were always great encouragers of Astronomy; and though the subjects of the latter were not so eminent as those of the former in the sister science, we have good reason to conclude that they made no inconsiderable progress in it. Herodotus, and other ancient historians, assert that Astrology was, from the remotest times, cultivated by that people. They usually, indeed, prognosticated the general course of life, the disposition, and even the manner of death, of any one, by reference to the deity presiding over the day on which he was born; and not unfrequently by their eastern neighbours, by determining the position of the stars at the moment of delivery.
As Moses passed the greatest part of his life in Egypt, and as he could know little by personal experience of other nations, it may perhaps be inferred that generally when he warns the Israelites against prevailing superstitions, he has a particular eye to those observed in the country in which the posterity of Adam had so long resided. He makes frequent allusion, indeed, to the magical rites and idolatrous practices of the Canaanites; but in this case he appears to speak rather from the information he had acquired from others than from his own experience. Should this inference be admitted, we shall have reason for believing that both Witchcraft and Necromancy were known to the Egyptians; and that some days were considered lucky, and others unfavorable, for the prosecution of any important affair. A careful perusal of the Pentateuch, and a reference to the Greek Historians who have written on the affairs of Egypt, and whose works are necessary to elucidate many obscure allusions in the sacred text, will furnish the more curious reader with information on some minor points, which our limits, as a miscellaneous work, necessarily oblige us to omit.
Jews[[30]].—We have hitherto had too much reason to complain of the paucity of information afforded by ancient writers on the magic of the Eastern nations; but when we come to consider that of the Jews, we no longer labour under so heavy a disadvantage. The Holy Scriptures, the works of native writers, and above all, the laborious researches of learned Christian commentators, furnish us with abundant materials, from which we shall select such as appear best adapted to give an intelligible, but necessarily brief, view of the subject.—Many Jewish Doctors assign to their magic a preposterous antiquity. They assert that it is of divine origin; that it was known to Adam and Abraham, both of whom were animated by the same soul; that the latter taught it by means of his concubines to his children; and that he wore round his neck a precious stone, the bare sight of which cured every disease, and which, after his death, God hung on the sun! But leaving these wild fables, we have sufficient authority for saying, that the Jews were at a very early period addicted to the magical arts. This propensity, which first originated in Egypt, was much increased by their subsequent intercourse with the inhabitants of Syria, and above all, with their Chaldean conquerors. Thus we read in the Book of Kings, that they used divination, and observed the cry of birds. Hence the frequent and awful denunciations employed by the inspired writers against the practisers of their forbidden arts.
Lightfoot has proved, that the Jews, after their return from Babylon, having entirely forsaken idolatry, and being no longer favoured with the gift of prophecy, gradually abandoned themselves, before the coming of our Saviour, to sorcery and divination. The Talmud, which they still regard with a reverence bordering on idolatry, abounds with instructions for the due observance of superstitious rites. After the destruction of their city and temple, many Israelitish impostors were highly esteemed for their pretended skill in magic. Under pretence of interpreting dreams, they met with daily opportunities of practising the most shameful frauds. Many Rabbins were quite as well versed in the school of Zoroaster as in that of Moses. They prescribed all kinds of conjuration, some for the cure of wounds, some against the dreaded bite of serpents, and others against thefts and enchantments. Like the Magi, they boasted that by means of their art they held an intercourse with superior beings. Thus Bath-kool, daughter of the voice, is the name given by them to the echo: they regarded it as an oracle, which in the second temple, was destined to supply the defect of the Urim and Thummim, the mysterious oracles of the first. Of Bath-kool many absurd stories are related. Thus when two Rabbins went to consult her concerning the fate of another Rabbin, Samuel, the Babylonian, they passed before a school, in which they heard a boy reading aloud, and Samuel died. (Sam. ch. xxv. v. 1.) On enquiry they subsequently found that the object of their anxiety was no longer an inhabitant of the earth; and thus a casual coincidence, of which no reasonable man would have been surprised, was confidently ascribed to the oracular powers of Bath-kool. Two other Rabbins, Jona and Josa, went to visit Acha in his sickness; as they proceeded on their way they said, “let us hear what sentence Bath-kool will pronounce on the fate of our brother.” Immediately they heard a voice, as if addressed by a woman to her neighbour—“the candle is going out; let not the light be extinguished in Israel.” (Lightfoot, vol. II. p. 267.) No more doubt was entertained that these words proceeded from Bath-kool, than that Elias now assists at the circumcision of every Jewish child.
The divinations of the Israelites were founded on the influence of the stars, and on the operations of spirits: that singular people did not, indeed, like the Chaldeans and Magi, regard the heavenly bodies as gods and genii; but they ascribed to them a great power over the actions and opinions of men. Hence the common proverb, ‘such a one may be thankful to his stars,’ when spoken of any person distinguished for his wealth, power, or wisdom. The mazzal-tool was the happy, and the mazzal-ra the malignant influence; and the fate of every one was supposed to be regulated by either one or the other. Like the notions from which their superstitious opinions were derived, the Jews constructed horoscopes, and predicted the fate of every one from his birth. Thus if any one were born under the dominion of the sun, it was prognosticated that he would be fair, generous, open-hearted, and capricious; under Venus, rich and wanton; under Mercury, witty, and of a retentive memory; under the Moon, sickly, and inconstant; under Saturn, unfortunate; under Jupiter, just, and under Mars, successful.