FOURTH SECTION. THEORETICAL VIEWS ON THE SUBJECT OF MAGIC AMONG THE ANCIENTS IN GENERAL. ACCORDING to the investigations of G. Naudé (Apologie pour toutes les grandes personnages qui ont êté faussement soupçonnées de Magie, à la Haye, 1653,) magic was very early divided into four classes : But 1, Natural; 2, White Magic-Theurgy of the angels and good spirits; 3, the Black Art; and 4, Divine Magic. it was not unfrequently the case that these classes were confounded, and that persons were accused of sorcery who often were merely politicians; as was the case in Greece, where legislators declared that they received their laws from the gods, for the purpose of causing their readier acceptance. It was thus that Trismegistus announced his laws as given by Mercury; Zamolais, by Vesta; Charondas, by Saturn; Minos, by Jupiter; Lycurgus, by Apollo; Draco and Solon, by Minerva; Numa Pompilius, by the Nymph Egiera; and Mahomet, as given by the angel Gabriel. Certain theories and doctrines were also occasionally classed with Magic which had, in fact, no connection whatever with it,—as for instance, the theories of Anaxagoras, particularly that of the ellipses;-even Plato, as he himself writes to Dionysius, was obliged to bring forward his views under a false name, that he might not be made responsible for them; and Socrates died because his differed from the generally accepted philosophy. There were many other causes which would confuse the idea of magic, and bring the system into discredit; the heathenish doctrines, enmities, ignorance, superstition, scepticism, and the premature judgments of shallow authors. Magic, therefore, was classed with paganism, because some of its professors were heathens, or were considered to be such as Simon Magus, Menander, Marcus, Valentinian, Carpocrates, Priscillian, Berengatius, Hermogenes; or because the magic arts followed in the footsteps of Heathen : ism, as, after the Arians, in Spain, the devil was visibly seen to torment men. Apulejus was accused of magic through the enmity of his wife's parents. The Maid of Orleans was charged with sorcery by the English, who had been conquered by her bravery and enthusiasm. Ignorance and prejudice were great among the Greeks, still more so among the Romans, and in the Middle Ages rose to the highest pitch, and carried with them a superstitious belief in marvels and omens, for instance, that certain people could make hail- and thunder-storms at will, and that others could sail in ships through the air, for the purpose of collecting the treasures which had flown up among the clouds; and so deeply was this rooted in the mind of the people, that in 833, Agobert, the Bishop of Lyons, had the greatest difficulty in rescuing, from the fury of the mob, three men and a woman, who were supposed to have fallen to the earth from such a ship. Lastly, we would observe, how much easier it is to defame and blacken certain authors, than to understand their true and intended meaning. The first magician, who is recorded as such, and who gave distinct teachings on the subject of magic, is Zoroaster. The genius of Socrates, of Plotin, Porphyrius, and Iamblychus, of Chicus and Scaliger, and Cardanus, is then placed in the first rank, which included inward (magic) sight, and the motives of unusual appearances. The dream was regarded as an universally natural gift, as a brother of death, teaching us more of that unfettered vision and action which we shall possess in the last sleep, when all these bolts and bars are withdrawn, which in sleep are but loosened. "In somnis ignota prius mysteria disco, The views of the ancients on dreams will be found in extenso in "Dissertatio de somnis, Halæ, 1758," by D. L. Schulze. The views respecting divination and dreams, among the Greeks and Romans, are clearly set forth by Cicero in “De divinatio et de natura deorum.' Plutarch and Pliny have also communicated numerous particulars, from the olden philosophers, respecting divinatory mania; ecstasy, which we shall notice more minutely at a later time, only giving a few general particulars in advance. Cicero mentions two species of divination, artificial and natural; he remarks that in the human mind a divine principle exists, shewing itself in every nation; in dreams; in sickness before death, and occasionally at other and unusual times. (Divino afflatu, Tuscul. I. 24, 27.) Socrates and Antipater collected almost every interesting particular respecting this subject. The explanation of a seeming contradiction, namely, foretelling the future, is explained by Cicero in this manner:that it is not concerning something which has no existence, but only of that which is not yet revealed; for everything exists, although the time has not yet arrived to unfold it, "sunt enim omnia, sed tempore ab sunt." As the dormant vitality lies hidden in the seed, so does the future lie concealed in its causes; and this future is, therefore, seen by the unfettered soul in sleep or when roused by other influences, or reason and experience draw conclusions. Cicero then extracts copiously from the various ancient philosophers on this subject. "According to Posidonius," says Cicero, "man dreams in a threefold manner by divine impulse: firstly, the soul sees the future through its relationship to the gods; secondly, the air is full of immortal spirits, in whom, as it were, the signs of truth are impressed; thirdly, the gods themselves converse with the sleeper; and this is of more frequent occurrence when death approaches, so that the soul beholds the future." Cratippus: The souls of men are, on one side, entirely of a divine nature, by which we understand that the soul, besides its divine portion, also possesses one which is entirely human. The earthy part which maintains the senses, motion and appetite, is not to be separated from the activity of the body; and that portion with which reason and reflection are connected is then most active and powerful when it is separated and uninfluenced by the body.' Chrysippus explains soothsaying in the following manner. There is a power which understands and explains the signs of all things, lent to man by the gods. By the means of soothsaying, we perceive the feelings of the gods towards man; the signs they give us; how they are to be made favourable to us, and in what manner we may conciliate them. The same may be said of dreams.” Pythagoras considers the conscious portion of the soul to be endowed with a very subtle substance (Ether), which he calls the stomach of the soul; and which is the communicating medium between both natures,-namely, the spiritual and material. He considered this intermediary substance to be of the nature of light, which, when once set in motion by the reasoning faculties of the soul, could spread itself through the whole universe. Democritos: From all visible things, reflections-idwλa -are continually proceeding, and are of divine origin. The great unity of created things is impressed upon these pictures, and it is from the mixing and contact of these ideas that our thoughts arise. These reflections are not considered, by Cicero, as unsubstantial forms, but, as Democritos says, reasoning agencies, formed of the purest atoms; who resemble man in appearance, inhabit the air, and appear during darkness to reveal hidden things to man. I have already mentioned that Heraclitus supposes that the senses of the soul are related to the Epixov of the celestial ether. According to him, the distinction between sleeping and waking is, that when awake, the divine portion of the soul-áradvuíaois-is not alone drawn in from the TEPLEXOV by the act of respiration, but also by the senses of smell and sight; while, on the contrary, during sleep, the connection with the celestial ether is alone maintained by the breathing; thus only a dim light is created, which man beholds during his dreams at night. This light is extinguished in death, when all activity of the senses expires. It is remarkable that all the ancient philosophers, who visited India or Egypt, were much inclined to magic, and brought it forward, more or less prominently, in their teachings. First of all stands Pythagoras, then all his disciples, Empedocles, Democritos, Plato, and even among the Romans the Pythagoreans were reputed to be soothsayers. Publius Nigidius, called Figulus, a friend of Cicero, was considered to be a Pythagorean, because he was well skilled in arithmetic and astrology. Lation and Moderatus, of Cadiz, were firm defenders of the Pythagorean School; but Apollonius, of Thyana, was the most celebrated. On account of his remarkable cures and prophecies, the heathens erected a temple to his honour at Thyana, and contrasted him with Jesus Christ; and the Emperor Antonius Caracalla adored him as a god, and dedicated a temple to his memory. Views, which have reference to this subject, are to be found in Hippocrates-De insomniis-"When the soul has been freed by sleep from the more material bondage of the body, it retires within itself, as into a haven, where it is safe against storms. It perceives and understands everything that is going on around it, and represents this condition, as it were, with various colours and forms, and explains, clearly, the condition of the body." In his third book, De vita, Hippocrates repeats this in these words :-"The soul sees everything that goes forward in the body, even with closed eyes.' "This property of the soul," says Scaliger, "has not only been recognised by the divine Galen, and other sages, as of great utility in medicine, but they also recognised it as of divine nature.' Galen makes use of almost the same expressions to explain the prophetic power of dreams as Hippocrates, and he says, "In sleep the soul retires into the innermost portion of itself, frees itself from all outward duties, and perceives everything that concerns either itself or the body." Galen also declares that he derived much of his knowledge from such nocturnal sources. That Galen possessed more than the usual knowledge of medicine, and that his inner sense often shone brightly, is clear from the fact, that he was able to foretell in a miraculous manner the future course and character of a disease. But this, according to Cicero, is human and not divine soothsaying, and may be compared to the soothsaying of Thales, Anaximander, and Pherecydes. This power of predetermination may certainly have been brought by Galen to a high degree of perfection by constant practice, but his predictions were at times of such peculiar accuracy, that one was led to conclude that they proceeded from his inward clearness of vision. For instance, he predicted to the Senator Sextus, then in perfect health, that upon the third day he would be seized with fever; that this fever would decrease upon the sixth,-it would abate; upon the fourteenth, return; and that upon the seventeenth he would entirely lose it through a violent sweat. He foretold, also, the whole course of a fever to the philosopher Eudemus. A young Roman lying sick of fever, the physicians wished to bleed him, but Galen declared this to be unnecessary, as he |