The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism [1911] - Get a Free Blog

ASTROLOGY AND MAGIC. 187
spised. As late as the period of Augustus they were
generally equivocal beggar-women who plied their mis
erable trade in the lowest quarters of the slums. But
with the invasion of the Oriental religions the magician
began to receive more consideration, and his condition
improved. 62 He was honored, and feared even more.
During the second century scarcely anybody would
have doubted his power to call up divine apparitions,
converse with the superior spirits and even translate
himself bodily into the heavens. 63
Here the victorious progress of the Oriental re
ligions shows itself. The Egyptian ritual 64 originally
was nothing but a collection of magical practices,
properly speaking. The religious community imposed
or even
its will upon the gods by means of prayers
threats. The gods were compelled to obey the offi
ciating priest, if the liturgy was correctly performed,
and if the incantations and the magic words were pro
nounced with the right intonation. The well-informed
priest had an almost unlimited power over all super
natural beings on land, in the water, in the air, in
heaven and in hell. Nowhere was the gulf between
things human and things divine smaller, nowhere was
the increasing differentiation that separated magic from
religion less advanced. Until the end of paganism
they remained so closely associated that it is sometimes
difficult to distinguish the texts of one from those of
the other.
The Chaldeans 6 * also were past masters of sorcery,
well versed in the knowledge of presages and experts
in conjuring the evils which the presages foretold.
In Mesopotamia, where they were confidential advisers
of the kings, the magicians belonged to the official