Pliny did have, however, a fairly clear idea of the extensive scope of magic as well as of its great age and currency. Not only did he declare that of all known arts it had exerted the greatest influence in every land and in almost every age, but "no one," he said, "should wonder that its authority has been very great, since it alone has embraced and combined into one the three other subjects which appeal most powerfully to man's mind."[1] For magic had invaded the domain of religion and had also made astrology a part of itself,[2] while "no one doubts that it originally sprang from medicine and crept in under the show of promoting health as a loftier and more holy medicine."[3] Indeed, he thinks that the development of magic and of medicine have been parallel[4] and that the latter is now in imminent danger of being overwhelmed by the follies of magic which have made men doubt whether plants possess any medicinal properties at all.[5] Pliny, moreover, sees the connection of magic with the lore of the magi of Persia. Indeed, "magus" is his only word for a magician. But this does not lead him to admit what some persons—the philosopher Eudoxus, for instance—have asserted, that magic is the most splendid and useful branch of philosophy.[6] For Pliny, magic is always something reprehensible.
The magi are either fools or imposters. They are a
- ↑ Nat. Hist., bk. xxx, ch. i. "Auctoritatem ei maxumam fuisse nemo miretur, quandoquidem sola artium tris alias imperiosissimas humanae mentis conplexa in unam se redigit."
- ↑ Ibid. He uses the words "mathematicas artes" instead of "astrologiam" but the words following make his meaning evident: "nullo non avido futura de sese sciendi atque ea e caelo verissime pati credente."
- ↑ Ibid. "Natam primum e medicina nemo dubitat ac specie salutari inrepisse velut altiorem sanctioremque medicinam."
- ↑ Bk. xxx, ch. 2.
- ↑ Bk. xxvi, ch. 9.
- ↑ Bk. xxx, ch. 2. "Eudoxus qui inter sapientiae sectas clarissimam utilissimamque eam intellegi voluit."
