{"collection":"journals","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/journals/oc/fc-aam.htm","path":"journals/oc/fc-aam.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/journals/oc/fc-aam.htm","text":"Sacred Texts\u00a0Journals\u00a0Buddhist Articles\n\u00a0\nTITLE\n\u00a0\nTHE OPEN COURT\n\u00a0\nA MONTHLY MAGAZINE\n\u00a0\nDevoted to the Science of Religion, the Religion of Science, and the Extension of the Religious Parliament Idea.\n\u00a0\n\u00a0\nVolume ___\n\u00a0\nCHICAGO\nTHE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING COMPANY\n___\n{Reduced to HTML by Christopher M. Weimer, August 2002}\n{p. }\n~\nWHEN we consider the absolute authority that astrology ex-\nercised under the Roman empire, we find it hard to escape\na feeling of surprise. It is difficult to think that people could ever\ncon si der astrology as the most valuable of alI arts and the queen\nf sciences, and it is not easy for us to imagine the moral conditions\nthat made such a phenomenon possible, because our state of mind\nto-day is very differeilt. Little by little the conviction has gained\nground, that alI that can be known about the .future, at least the\nfuture of man and of hum an society,cis conjecture. The progress of\nknowledge has taught man to acquiesce in his ignorance.\nIn former ages it was different: Forebodings and predictions\nfound universal credence. The ancient forms of divination, how-\never, had fallen somewhat into disrepute at the beginning of our\nera, likc the rest of the Greco-Roman religion. It was no longer\nthought that the eagerness or reluctance with which the sacred hens\nate their paste, or the direction of the flight of the birds indicated\ncoming success or disaster. Abandoned, the Hellenic oracles were\nsilent. Then appeared astrology , surrounded with alI the pres-\ntige of an exact science, and based upon the experience of many\ncenturies. It promised to ascertain the occurrences of any one's\nlife with as much precision as the date of an eclipse. The world\nwas drawn towards it by an irresistible attraction. Astrology did\naway with, and gradually relegated to oblivion, alI the ancient\nmethods that had been devised to solve the enigmas of the future.\nHaruspicyand the auguraI art were abandoned, and not even the an-\ncient fame of the oracles could save them from falling into irre-\ntrievable desuetude. This great chimera changed religion as weIl\n*c Translated from the French by A. M. Thielen.\n~as--divirition; its spirit penetrated 'everything. And truly, if, ,\nsom~ scholars still hold, the ~ain feature of scienc: is t~e ability t\npredlct, no branch of learmng could compare wlth thIs one, il\nescape its influence. -j\nThe success of astrology was connected with that of the Ori~\nentai religions, which lent it their support, as it in turn h~lped themj'\nWe h~Ve seen how it forced itself upon Semitic p~ganism, how 4\ntransformed Persian Mazdaism and evensubdued the arrogailc~\nof the Egyptian sacerdotal caste. Certain mystical treatises ascribe~\nto the old Pharaoh N echepso and his confidant, the priest Petosiri~\nnebulous and abstruse works that became, one might say, the BibI\"\nof the new belief in the power of the stars, were translated iilt \"\nGreek, undoubtedly at Alexandria, about the year 150 before oui\nera. About the same time the Chaldean genethlialogy begail t\nspread in Italy, with regard to which Berosus, a priest of the go\nBaal, who came to Babylon from the island of Cos, had previousl\nsucceeded in arousing the curiosity of the Greeks. In 139 a preto\nexpelled the \"Chaldaei\" from Rome, together with the Jews. Bu\naIl the adherents of the Syrian goddess, of whom there was quit\na 'number in the occident, were patrons and defenders of thes\nOriental prophets, and police measures were no more successfuf\nin stopping the diffusion of their doctrines, than ln the case of the'i\nAsiatic mysteries. In the time of Pompey, the senator Nigidius\nFigult's, who was an atdent occultist, expounded the barbariail~\nur1lnography in Latin. But the scholar whose authority contributed\nmost to the final acceptance of sidereal divination was a Syrian,\nphilosopher ofeocyclopedic knowledge, Posidonius of Apamea, the\ntacher of Cicero. The works of, that erudite and religious writer\ninfluenc~d the development of the entire Roman theology more thafl\nanything else:\n-Utlder the empire, while the Semitic Baals and Mithra were\ntritimphing, '1lstrology manifested its power everywhere. Duriilg\nthat period everybody bowed to it. The Cresars became its fervent\ndevotees, frequently at the expense of the ancient cuIts. Tiberiu\nneglected the gods because he beli~~ed only in fatalism, and Otho,\nblind I y confiding in the Oriental seer, marched against Vitellius il\nspite of the baneful presages that affrighted his officiaI. clergy. The\nmost earnest scholars, Ptolemy under the Antonines for instance,\nexpot1nded the principles of that pseudo-science, and the very best\nminds received them. In fact, scarcely anybody made a distinction\nbetween ast:ronomy and its illegitimate sister. Literature took up\nthis new and diffic111t subject. anri. as early as the tim~ of Augustt.1~\nor Tiberius, Manilius, inspired by the sidereal fatalism, endeavored\nto make poetry of that dry \"mathematics,\" as Lucretius, his fore-\nrunner, had done with the Epicurean atomism. Even art looked\nthere for inspiration and depicted the stellar deities. At Rome and\nin the provinces architects erected sumptuous septizonia in the like-\nness of the seven spheres in which the planets that rule our destinies\nmove. This Asiatic divination was first aristocratic-because the\nobtaining of an exact horoscope was a complicated mat ter, and\nconsultations were expensive-but it promptly became popular, espe-\ncially in the urban centers where Oriental slaves gathered in large\nnumbers. The learned genethlialogers of the observatories had un-\nlicensed colleagues, who told fortunes at street-crossings or ili barn-\nyards. Even common epitaphs, which Rossi styles \"the scull of\ninscriptions,\" have retained traces of that belief. The custom arose\nof stating in epitaphs the exact length of a life to the very hour ,\nfor th moment of birth determined that of death :\nNascentes morimur, finisque ab origine pendet.\nSoon neither important nor small matters were undertaken with-\nout consulting the astrologer. Ris previsions were sought not only\nin regard to great public events like the conduct of a war, the found-\ning of a city, or the accession of a ruler, not only in case of a mar-\nriage, a journey, or a change of domicile; but the most trifling acts\nof ev~ry-day life were gravely submitted to his sagacity. People\nwould no longer take a bath, go to the barber, change their clothes\nor manicure their fingernails, without first awaiting the propitious\nmoment. The co.llections of \"initiatives\" (KaTapxat) that have comc\nto uscontain questions that make us smile: Will a son who s about\ntobebo~nhave a big nose? Will a girl just coming into this world\ni:lave gallantadventures ? And certain. precepts sound almost like\nburlesque~ : he who gets his hair cut while the moon is in her increase\nwill bec9m~ bald,-,-evidently by analogy .\nThe entire existence of states and individuals, down to the\nslightestincidertts; wS thought to depend on the stars. The absolute\ncontrol they wer supposed toexercise over everybody's daily con-\ndition, evenmodified the language in every-day use and left traces\nin almost alI idio~s derived from the Latin. If we speak of a\nmartil, or a jovial character, or a lunatic, we are unconsciously\nadmit ting the existence, in these heavenly bodies (Mars, Jupiter,\nLuna) of \\their ancient qualities.\nIt must beacknowledged, however, that the Grecian spirit tried\nto combat the folly that was taking hold of the world. and from the\ntime of its propagation astrology found opponents among the phI\nlosophers. The most subtle of these adversaries was the probabilis\nCarneades, in the second century before our era. The topical argu\nments which he advanced, were taken up, reproduced, and devel'\noped in a thousand ways by later polemicists. For instance, Wer\nalI the men that perish together in a batt~e, born at the same moment~,\nbecause they had the same fate ? Or, on the other hand, do we no\nobserve that twins, born at the same time, have the most unlike\ncharacters and the most different fortunes ?\nBut dialectics are an accomplishment in which the Greeks eve\nexcelled, and th~ defenders of astrology found a reply to every ob\njection. They endeavored especially to establish firmly the truth\nof observation, upon which rested the entire learned structure o\ntheir art : the influence of the stars over the phenomena of natur\nand the characters of individuals. Can it be denied, they said, tha\nthe sun causes vegetation to appear and to perish, and that it put\nanimaIs en rut or plunges them into lethargic sleep ? Does not th\nmovement of the tide depend on the course of the moon ? .Is no\nthe rising of certain constellations accompanied every year by storms ?\nAnd are not the physical and moral qualities of the different races!\nmanifestly determined by the climate in which they live ? The actio\nof the sky on the earth is undeniable, and, the sidereal influences\nonce admitted, alI previsions based on them are legitimate. As soon\nas the first principle is admitted, alI corollaries are logically derived\nfrom it.\nThis way of reasoning was universally considered irrefutable..\nnefore the advent of Christianity, which especially opposed it because\n.\nof its idolatrous character, astrology had scarcely any adversaries\nexcept t.hose who denied the possibility of science altogether, namely,.!.'\nthe neo-academicians, who l}eld that man could not attain certainty,\nand such radical sceptics as Sextus Empiricus. Upheld by the stoics,\nhowever, who with very few exceptions were in favor of astrology ,.\nit can be maintained that it emerged triumphant from the first\nassaults directed against it. The only result of the objections raised\nto it was to modify some of its theories. Later, the general weak-\nening of the spirit of criticism assui-d astrology an almost uncon.i\ntested domination. Its adversaries did not renew their polemics ;\nthey limited themselves to the repetition of arguments that had been\nopposed, if not refuted, a hundred times, .and consequently seemed\nworn out. At the court of the Severi any one who would have de-\nnied the influence of the planets upon the events of this world would\nave been considered more preposterous than he who would admit\nt to-day.\nBut, you will say, if the theorists did not succeed in proving\nhe doctrinal falsity of astrology, experience should have shown its\northlessness. Errors must have..,occurred frequentlyand must have\neen followed by cruel disillusionment. Having lost a child at the\nge of four for whom a brilliant future had been predicted, the\narents stigmatized in the epitaph the \"lying mathematician whose\ngreat renown deluded both of them.\" But nobody thought of deny-\nng the possibility of such errors. Manuscripts have been preserved,\nwherein the makers othoroscopes themselves candidly and learnedly\nxplain how they were mistaken in such and such a case, because they\nhad not taken into account some one of the data of the problem.\nManilius, in spite of his unlimited confidence in the power of reasoll,\nhesitated at the complexity of an immense task, that seemed to\nexceed the capacity of human intelligence, and in the second century,\nVettius Valens bitterly denounced the contemptible bunglers who\nclaimed to be prophets, without having had the long training neces-\nsary, and who thereby cast odium and ridicule upon astrology, in\nthe name of which they pretended to operate. It must be remembered\nhat astrology, like medicine, was not only a science ( ?TtO'T~P.)j ) , but\nIso an art ( TI.XJl'r] ) .This comparison, which sounds irreverent to-\nay, was a flattering one in the eyes of the ancients. To observe the\nsky was as delicate a task as to observe the human body; to cast the\nhoroscope of a newly born child, just as perilous as to make a diag-\nnosis, and to interpret the cosmic symptoms just as hard as to\ninterpret those of our organism. In both instances the elements\nwere complex and the chances of crror infinite. All the examples\nof patients dying in spite of the physician, or on account o him,\nwill never keep a person who is tortured by physical pain from ap-\npealing to him for help ; and similarly those whose souls were\ntroubled with ambition or fear turned to the astrologer for some\nremedy for the moral feveitormenting them. The calculator, who\nclaimed to determine the moment of death, and\" the medical prac-\ntitioner who claimed to avert it rcceived the anxious patronage of\npeopl~ worried by this formidable issue. Furthermore, just as mar-\nvelou~ cures were reported, striking predictio'us wer~ called to mind\nor, if need were, invented. The diviner had, as a rule, only a re-\nstricted number of possibilities to deal with, and the calculus of\nprobabilities shows that he must have succeeded sometimes. Mathe-\nmatics, which fie invoked, was in his favor after all, and chance fre-\nquently correct~l mischance. Moreover. ctid not the man, who hao\n.\n-~- ---~4_4. _~~4-4.\n.\na well-frequented consulting-office, possess a thousand means, if\nhe was clever, of placing alI the chances on his side, in the hzardou~\nprofession he followed, and of reading in the stars anything ht ,\nthought expedient ? He observed the erth rather than the sky,\nand took care not to fall into a we.ll. !,\n* * *\nHowever, what helped most to make astrology invulnerable to ,\nthe blows of reason and of common sense, was the fact that i!l\nreality, the apparent rigor of its calculus and its theorems notwith-\nstanding, it was not a science but a faith. W~ mean not. only that,\nit implied belief in postulates that could not be proved-the saille\nthing might be said of almost alI of our poor human knowledge,\nand even our systems of physics and cosmology in the last analysis\nare based upon hypotheses-but that astrology was born and reared\nin the temples of Chaldea and Egypt. Even in .the Occident it neverj\nforgot its sacerdotal origin and never more than hlf freed itself\nfrom religion, whose offspring it was. Here lies the connectio!l\nbetween astrology a_nd the Oriental religions, and I wish to draw\nthe reader's special attention to this point.\nThe Greek works and treatises on astrology that have corn\ndown to us, reveal this essential feature only very imperfectly. Th\nByzantines stripped this pseudo-science, always regarded suspiciously\nby the Church, of everything that savored of paganism. Their pro..\\\ncess of purification can, in some instances, be traced from manu-\nscript to manu script. If they retained the name of some god or\nhero of mythology, the only way they dared to write it was bXi\ncryptography. They have especially preserved purely didactic treat;\nises, the most perfect type of which is Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos which\nhas been constantly quoted and commented upon ; and they have\nreproduced almost exclusively expurgated texts, in which the prin-\nciples of the various doctrines are drily summarized. During the\nclassic age works of a different character were commonly read.\nMany \"Chaldeans\" interspersed their cosmological calculations and\ntheories with moral consideration&-.and mystical speculations. In,\nthe first part of a work that he names \"Vision\" C\"Opaut.. ) Critod-\nemus, in prophetic language, represents the truths he reveals as a\nsecure harbor of refuge from the storms of this world, and he prcill~\nises his readers to raise them to the rank of immortals. Vettiu 1\nValens, a contemporary of Marcus Aurelius, implored them in sc If\nemn terms, not to divulge to the ignorant .and impious the arcan4'\nhe was about to acquaint them with. Theastrologers liked tc asi\nJ.\n'.-\nsume the appearance ot tnCOrruptll>le and holy prlests and to con-\nsider their calling a sacerdotal one. In fact, the two m:nistries\nsometimes combined : A dignitary of the Mithraic clergy called\nhimself studiosus astrolo giae in his epitaph, and a member of a\nprominent family of Phrygian prlates celebrated in verse the science\nof divination w hich enabled him to issue a number of infallible\npredictions.\nThe sacred character of astrology revealed itself in some pas-\nsages that escaped the orthodox censt:re and in the tone some of its\nfollowers assumed, but we must go ft\"rther and show that astrology\nwas religious in its principles as weIl as in its conclt\"sions, the debt\nit owed to mathematics and observation notwithstanding.\nThe fundamental dogma of astrology , as conceived by the\nGreeks, was that of tmiversal solidarity. The wcrld is a vast organ-\nism, alI the parts of which are connected through an unceasing ex-\nchange of molecules or effluvia. The stars, inexhat'stible generatdrs\nof energy , constantly act upon the earth and man-upon man, the\nepitome of all nature, a \"microcosm\" whose every elemenf cor-\nresponds to some part of the starry sky. This was, in a few .words~\nthe theory formulated by the stoic disciples of the Chaldeans ; but if\nwe divest it of a)l the philosophic garments with which it has been\nadorned, what do we find ? The idea of sympathy, a belief as old\nas human society! The savage peoples also established mysterious\nrelations between all bodies and all the beings that inhabit the earth\nand the heavens, and which to them were animated with a .1ife of\ntheir own endowed with latent power, but we shall speak of this\nlater on, when taking up the subject of magic. Even before the\npropagation of the Oriental religions, popular superstition in Italy\nand Greece attributed a number of odd actions to the sun, the moon,\nand the constellations as well.\nThe Chaldaei, however, claimed a predominant power for the\nstars. In fact, fhey were regarded as gods par excellence by the\nreligion of the ancient Chaldeans in its beginnings. The sidereal\nreligion of Babylon concentrated deity, one inight say, in the lu-\nminous moving bodies at the expense of. other natural objects; such\nas stones, plants, anirtlals, which the primitive Semitic faith con-\nsidered equally divine. The stars always retained this chara:cter ,\neven at Rome. They were not, as to us, infinitely distant bodies\nmoving in space according to the inflexible laws of mecha:nics, and\nwhose chemical composition may be determined. To the Latins\nas to the OrientaIs, they were propitious or baleful deities. whose\never-changing relations determined the events of this world. ~..,~\nThe sky, whose unfathomable depth had not yet been perceived,\nwas peopled with heroes and monsters of contrary passions, and\nthe struggle above had an immediate echo upon earth. By what\nprinciple have such a quality and so great an influence been attrib-\nuted to the stars ? Is it for reasons derived from their apparent\nmotion and known through observation or experience ? Sometimes.\nSaturn made people apathetic and irresolute, because it moved most\nslowly of alI the planets. But in most instances purely mythological\nreasons inspired the precepts of astrology .The seven planets were\nassociated with certain deities, Mars, V cnus, or Mercury, whose\ncharacter and history are known to alI. Tt is sufficient simply to\npronounce their names to calI to mind certain personalities that may!\nbe expected to act according to their natures, in every instance. Tt\nwas natural for Venus to favor lovers, and for Mercury to assure\nthe success of business transactions and dishonest deals. The same\napplies to the constellations, with which a number of legends are\nconnected; \"catasterism\" or translation into the stars, became the\nnatral conclusion of a great many tales. The heroes of mythol-\n-ogy, Qr even those of human society, continued to live in the sky\nin the form of brilliant stars. There Perseus again met Andromeda,\nand the centaur Chiron, who is none other than Sagittarius, was on\nterms of good fellowship with the Dioscuri.\nThese constellations, then, assumed to a certain extent the good\nand the bad qualities of the mythical or historical beings that had\nbeen transferred upon them. For instance, the serpent, which shines\nnear the northern pole, was the author of medical cures, because it\nwas the animal sacred to JEsculapius.\nThe religious foundation of the rules of astrology , however ,\ncan not always be recognized. Sometimes it is entirely forgotten,\nand in such cases the ruJes assume the appearance of axioms, or of\nlaws based upon long observation of celestial phenomena. Here\nwe have a simple aspect of science. The process of assimilation with\nthe gods and catasterism were known in the Orient long before\nthey were practiced in Greece.\nThe traditional outlines that we reproduce on our celestial maps\nare the fossil remains of a luxuriant'mythological vegetation, and\nbesides our classic sphere the ancients knew another, the \"barbarian\"\nsphere, peopled with a world of fantastic persons and animaIs.\nThese sidereal monsters, to whom powerful qualities were ascribed,\nwere likewise the remnants of a multitude of forgotten beliefs.\nZoolatry was abandoned in the temples, but people continued to\nregard as divine the lion, the ~ull, the bear, and the fishes, which\nthe Oriental imagination had seen in the starry vault. Old totems\nof the Semitic tribes or of the Egyptian divisions lived again, trans-\nformed into constellations. Heterogeneous elements, taken from\nalI the religions of the Orient, were combined in the uranography\nof the ancients,. and in the power ascribed to the phantoms that it\nevoked, vibrates the indistinct echo of ancient devotions that are\noften completely unknown to us.\nAstrology , then, was religious in its origin and in its principles.\nIt was religious also in its close relation to the Oriental religions,\nespecially those of the Syrian Baals and of Mithra; finally, it was\nreligious in the effects that it produced. l do not mean the effects\nexpected from a constellation in any particular instance: as for ex-\nample the power to evoke the gods that were subject to their domi-\nnation. But l have in mind the general influence those doctrines\nexercised upon Roman paganism. ,\nWhen the Olympian gods were incorporated among the stars,\nwhen Saturn and Jupiter became planets and the celestial virgin a\nsign of the zodiac, they assumed a character very different from\nthe one they had originally possessed. It has been shown how, in\nSyria, the idea of an infinite repetition of cycles of years according\nto which the; celestial revolutions took place, led to the conception\nof divine eternity, how the theory of a fatal domination of the stars\nover the earth brought about that of the omnipotence of the \"lord\nof the heavens,\" and how the introduction of a universal religion\nwas the necessary result of the belief that the stars exerted an in-\nfluence upon the peoples of every climat.e. The logic of alI these\nconsequences of the principles of astrology was plain to the Latin\nas weIl as to the Semitic races, and caused a rapid transformation\nof the ancient idoiatry. As in Syria, the sun, which the astrologers\ncalled the leader of the planetary choir, \"who is established as\nking and leader of the whole world,\" necessarily became the highest\npower of the Roman pantheon.\nAstrology also modified theology, .by introducing into this pan-\ntheon a great number of new gods, some of whom were singularly\nabstract. Thereafter man worshiped the constellations of the firma-\nment, particularly the twelve signs of thezodiac, every one of which\nhad its mythologic legend; the sky (Caelus) itself, because it was\nr:onsidered the first cause, and was sometimes confused with the\nsupreme being; the four elements, the antithesis and perpetual trans-\nmutations of which produced alI tangible phenomena, and which\nwere often symbolized by a group of animaIs ready to devour each\nother; finally, time and its subdivisions.\n~;}~ :\nThe calendars were religious before they were secular ; thei~\npurpose was not, primarily, to record fleeting time, but to ObServ\n~the recurrence of propitious or inauspicious dates separated by p\nriodic intervals. It is a mat ter of experience that the return of cer\ntain moments is associated with the appearance.of ce~tain phenomena\nthey have, therefore, a special efficacy, and are endowed with a sacre4\ncharacter. By determining periods with mathematical exactness, aSf\ntrology continued to see in them \"a divine power ,\" to use Zeno's terni\nTime, that regtates the course of the stars and the transubstantiatiort\n,-\nof the elements, was conceived of as the master of the gods and the\nprimordial principle, and was likened to destiny. Each part of its\ninfinite du ration brought with it some propitious or evil movement\nof the sky that was anxiously observed, and transformed the ever\nmodified universe. The centuries, the years and the seasons, placed\ninto relation with the four winds and the four cprdinal points, the\ntwelve months conriected with the zodiac, the day and the night,\nthe twelve hours, alI were personified and deified, as the authors o\nevery change in the universe. The allegorical figures contrived for\nthese abstractions by astrological paganism did not even perish wit\nit. The symbolism it bad disseminated outlived it, and until the\nMiddle Ages these pictures of fallen gods were reproduced in\ndefinitely in sculpture, mosaics, and in Christian miniatures.\nThus astrology entered into alI religious ideas, and the doc-!\ntrines of the destiny of the world and of man harmonized with its\nteachings. According to Berosus, who is the interpreter of ancien\nChaldea.n theories, the existence of the universe consisted of a se rie\nof \"big years,\" each having its summer and its winter. Their sum\nmer took place ~hen alI the planets were in conjunction at the sam\npoint of Cancer, and brought with it a general conflagration. O\nthe other hand, their winter came when alI the planets were joine\nin Capricorn, and its result was a univers al flood. Each of thes\ncosmic cycles, the du ration of which was fixed at 432,oooyears ac\ncording to the most probable estimate, was an exact reproductio\nof those that had preceded it. In fact, when the stars resume\nexactly the same position, they were forced to act in identically th\nsame manner as before. This Babylonian theory, an anticipation o\nthat of the l'eternal return of things,\" which Nietzsche boasts of\nhaving discovered, enjoyed lasting pop~larity du ring antiquity, and\nin various forms came down to the Renaissance. The belief tha\nthe world would be destroyed by fire, a theory also spread abroa\nby the Stoics, found a new support in these cosmic speculations.\nAstrology. however, revealed the future not only of the Imi\nverse, but also of man. According to a Chaldeo- Persian doctrine,\naccepted by the pgan mystics, a bitter necessity compelled the\nsouls that dwell in great numbers on the celestial heights, to descend\nupon this earth and to animate certain bodies that are to hold them\nin captivity. In descending to the earth they travel through the\nspheres of the planets and receive some quality from each of these\nwandering stars, according to its positions. Contrariwise, when\ncleath releases them from their carnal prison, the)' return to their first\nhabitation, providing they have led a pious life, and if as they pass\nthrough the doors of the superposed heavens they divest themselves\nof the passions and inclinations acquired during thir first journey,\nto ascend finaIly, as pure essence to the radiant abode of the gods.\nThere they live forever among the eternal stars, freed from the\ntyranny of destiny and even from the limitations of time.\nThis alliance of the theorems of astronomy with their old be-\n...liefs supplied the Chaldeans with answers to alI the questions that\nmen asked concerning the relation of heaven and earth, the nature\nof God, the existence of the world, and their own destiny. Astrol-\nogy was reaIly the first scientific theology .HeIlenistic logic ar-\nranged the Oriental doctrines properly, corpbined them with the\nstoic philosophy and built them up into a system of indisputahle\ngrandeur ,\" an ideal reconstruction of the universe, the powerful\nassurance of which inspired Manilius to sublime language when he\nwas not exhausted byhis efforts fo master an ill-adapted theme.\nThe vague and irrational notion of \"sympathy\" is transformed\ninto a deep sense of the relationship between the human soul, an\nigneous substance, and the divine stars, and this feeling is strength-\nened by thought. The contemplation of the sky has become a com-\nmunion. During the splendor of night the mind of man became\nintoxicated with the light streaming from above ; born on the wings\nof enthusiasm, he ascended into the sacred choir of the stars and\ntook part in their harnloniotls movements. \"He participates in tlieir\nimmortality, and, before his appointed hour, converses with the\ngods.\" In spite of the subtle precision the Greeks always main-\ntained in their speculations, the feeling that permated astrology\nclown to the end of paganism never belied its Oriental and religi0t1;;\norigin.\nThe nlost essential principle of astrology was that of fatalism.\nAs the poet says :\n\"Fata regunt. orbem, certa stant omnia lege.\"\n,\nThe Chaldeans werethe first...toconceivethe irlea of an in-\n~;J- L ~~~ ~~ ~~, ~~U~.~..\nflexible necessity ruling the universe, instead of gods acting in th\n\\vorld according to their passions, like men in society. They noticec\nthat an immutable law regulated the movements of the celesti\nbodies, and, in the first enthusiasm of their discovery they extende\nits effects to alI moral and social phenomena, The postulates o\nastrology imply an absolute determinism. Tyche, or deified fortune\nbecame the irresistible mistress of mortals and immortals alike, an\nwas even worshiped exclusively by some under the empire. Out\ndeliberate will never plays 1'nore than avery limited part in ou\nhappiness and success, but, among the pronunciamentos and in th\nanarchy of the third century, blind chance seemed to play with th\nlife of every one according to its fancy, and it can easily be un der\nstood that the ephemeral rulers of that period, like the masses, sa\nin chance the sovereign disposer of their fates.\nThe power of this fatalist conception du ring antiquity may b\nmeasured by its long persistence, at least in the Orient, where it\n, originated. Starting from Babylonia, it spread over the entire Hel-\nlenic world, as early as the Alexandrian period, and towards the\nend of paganism a considerable part of the efforts of the Christian\napologists was directed against it. But it was destined to outlast\nalI attacks, and to impose itself even on Islam. In Latin Europe,\nin spite of the anathemas of the Church, the belief remained con-\nfusedly al ive alI through the Middle Ages that on this earth everJ\"-\nthing happens somewhat\n\"Fer ovra delle rote magne,\nChe drizzan ciascun seme adalcun fine\nSecondo che le stella son campagne.\"\nThe weapons used by the ecclesiastic writers in contending\nagainst this sidereal fatalism were taken .from the arsenal of the\nold Greek dialectics. In general, they were those that alI defenders\nof free will had used for centuries: determinism destroys respon-\nsibility; rewards and punishments are absurd if man acts under a\nnecessity that compels him, if he is born a hero or a criminal. We\nshall not dwell on 'these metaphysicaI.. discussions, but there is one\nargument that is more closely connected with our subject, and there-\nfore should be mentioned. If we live under an immutable fate, no\nsupplication can change its decisions; religion is unavqiling, it is\nuseless to ask the oracles to reveal the secrets of a future which\nnothing can change, and prayers, to use one of Seneca's expressions,\nare nothing but \"the solace of diseased minds.\"\nAnd, oubtless, some adepts of astrology.. like the Emperor\niberius, neglected the practice of religion, because they were con-\nvinced that fate governed aIl things. Following the example set by\nhe stoics, they made absolute submission to an almighty fate and\njoyful acceptance of the inevitable a moral dut y, and were satisfied\nto worship the superior power that ruled the universe, without de-'\nmanding anything in return. They considered themselves at the\nmercy of even the most capriciousfate, and were like the intelligent\nslave who guesses the desires of his master to satisfy them, and\nknows how to make the hardest servitude tolerable. The masses,\nhowever, never reached that height of resignation. They looked at\nastrology far more from a religious than from a logical standpoint.\nThe planets and constellations were not only cosmic forces, whose\nfavorable or inauspicious action grew weaker or stronger according\nto the turnings of a course established for eternity ; they were deities\nwho saw and heard, who were glad or sad, who had a voice and\nsex, who were prolific or sterile, gentle or savage, obsequious or\narrogant. Their anger could therefore be soothed and their favbr\nobtained through rites and offerings ; even the adverse stars were\nnot unrelenting and could be persuaded through sacrifices and ~uppli-\ncations. The narrow and pedantic Firmicus Maternus strongly as-\nserts the omnipotence of fate, but at the same time he invokes the\ngods and asks for their aid against the influence of the stars. As\nlate as the fourth century the pagans of Rome who were about to\nmarry, or tb make a purchase, or to solicit a public office, went to\nthe diviner for his prognostics, at the same time praying to Fate for\nprosperity in their undertaking. Thus a fundamental antinomy\nmanifested itself alI through the development of astrology , which\npretended to be an exact science, but always remained a sacerdotal\ntheology.\nOf course, the more the idea of fatalism imposed itself and\nspread, the more the weight of this hopeless theory oppressed the\nconsciousness. Man felt himself dominated and crushed by blind\nfrces that dragged him on as irresistibly as they kept the celestial\nspheres in motion. Ris soul tried to escape the oppression of this\ncosmic mechanism, and to leave the slavery of Ananke. But he no\nlonger had confidence in the ceremonies of his old religion. The new\npbwers that had taken possession of heaven had to be propitiated\nby new means. The Oriental' religions themselves offered a remedy\nagainst the evils they had created, and taught powerful and mys-\nterious processes for conjuring fate. And side by side with astrot-\nbgy we see magic, a more pernicious aberration, gaining ground.\nIf, from the reading of Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos, we pass on t\nread a magic papyrus, our first impres$ion is that we have stepp\nfrom one end of the intellectual world to the other. Here we fin\nno trace of the systematic order or severe method that distinguish the\nwork of the scholar of .t.,.lexandria. Of course, the doctrines of\nastrology are just as chimerical as those of magic, but they are\ndeduced with an amount of logic, entirely wanting in works o\nsorcery, that compels reasoning intellects to accept them. Recipe.\nborrowed from medicine and popular superstition, primitive prat..'\ntices rejected or abandoned by the sacerdotal rituals, beliefs repu:\ndiated by a progressive moral religion, plagiarisms and forgerie\nof literary or liturgic texts, incantations in which the gods of al'\nbarbarous nations are invoked in unintelligible gibberish, odd andj\ndisconcerting ceremonies,-all these form a chaos in which the im~~:\nagination loses itself, apotpourri in w?ich ~n arbitrary s.yncretis\nJ'\nseems to have attempted to create an mextncable confusion.\nHowever, if we observe, more closely, how magic operates, w j\nfind that it starts out from the same principles and acts along th\n~same line of reasoning as astrology. Born during the same period\nin the primitive civ.ilizations o~ th~ Orient, both were based on ,\nnumber of common Ideas. Maglc, Ilke astrology, proceeded from th .\nprinciple of universal sympathy, yet it did not con si der the relationj\nexisting between the stars, traversing the heavens, and physical orj\nmoral phenomena, but the relation between whatever bodies there'\nare. It started out from the preconceived idea that an obscure butt\nconstant relation exists between certain things, certain words, certainf;\npersons. This connection was established without. hesitation be-J!\ntween: dead material things and living beings, because the primitive\nraces ascribed a soul and existence, similar to those of man, to every-\nthing surrounding them. The distinction between the three king-:\ndoms of nature was unknown to them ;they w~re \"animists.\" The\nlife of a person might, therefore, be linked to that of a thing, a t.ree,\nO! an af!imal, in such a manner that onedied if the ot.her did, andthat\nany damage suffered by.one was also sustained by its inseparable\nassociate. Sometimesthe relation was founded on clearlyintelligible\ngrounds, like a resemblance between the thing and the being, as\nwhere, to kill an enemy, one pierced a waxen figure supposed to\nrepresent him. Or a contact, even merely passing by, was believed\nto have created indestructible affinities, for instance where the gar-\nments of an absent person were operated upon. Often, also, these\nimaginary relations were founded on reasons that escape us: like the\nqualities attributed by astrology to the stars, they may have !>een\nderiv~d from old beliefs the memory of which is lost.\nLike astrolQgy, then, magic was a science in some respects. First,\nlike the predict.ions of its sister, itwas partly based on observation-\nobservation frequently rudimentary, superficial, hast y, and erroneous,\nbut nevertheless important. It was an experimental discipline.\nAmong the great number of facts noted by the curiosity of the\nmagicians, tbere were many that received scientific indorsement\nlater on. The attraction of the magnet for iron was utilized by the\nthaumaturgi before it was interpreted by the natural philosoph~rs..\nIn the vast compilations that circulated under the venerable names\nof Zoroaster or Hostanes, many fertile remarks were scattered\namong puerile ideas and absurd teachings, just as in the Greek trea-\ntises on alchemy that have corne down to us. The idea that knowl-\nedge of t.he power of certain agents enables one to stimulate the\nhidden forces of the univer$e into action and to obtain extraordinary\nresults, inspires the researches of physics to-day, just as it inspired\nthe claims of magic. And if astrology was a perverted astronomy,\nmagic was physics gone astray.\nMoreover, and again like astrology, magic was a science, be-\ncause it started from the fundamental conception that order and law\nexist in nature, and that the same cause always produces the same\neffect. An occult ceremony, performed with the same care as an\nexperiment. in the chemicallaboratory, willalways have the expected\nresult.. To know the mysterious affinities that connect alI things is\nsufficient to set the mechanism of the universe into motion. ~ut\nthe erroi- of the magicians consisted in establishing a connection\nbetween phenomena that do not depend on each other at alI. The\nact. oi exposing to the light, for an instant, a sensitive plate in ~\ncamera,then immersing it,..according to given recipes, in appropriate\nliquidst and of making the pictt1i-e of a relative or friend appear\ntbereon is a magical operation,. but. based on real actions and reac-\ntions, instead o{ on arbitrarily a:ssumed sympathies and antipathies.\nMagic, therefore, was a science groping in the dark, and 1ater be-\ncame \"a bastard sister of science,\" as Frazer puts it.\nBut; like astrology , magic was religiot1s in origin, and always\nremained a bastard sister of religion. Both grew up together in\nthe temples of the barbarian Orient. Their practices were, at first,\npart of the dubiot1s knowledge of fetichists who claimed to bave\ncontrol over the spirits that peopled nature and animated everything,\nand who claimed that they communicated with these spirits by means\nof rites known ta them!'elve!' alon~. Magic ha!' been cleverly c1~finec1\n\"as \"the strategy of animism.\" But, just as the growing powe\nascribed by the Chaldeans to the sidereal deities transformed th\noriginal astrology , so primitive sorcery assumd a different characte\nwhen the world of the gods, conceived after the image of man, sep-\narated itself more and more from the realm of physical forces and be-\ncame a realm of its own. This gave the mystic element which al\nways entered the ceremonies, a new precision and development. By\nmeans of his charms, talismans, and exorcisms, the magician now\ncommunicated with the celestialor infernal \"demons\" and compelled\nthem to obey him. But these spirits no longer opposed him with\nthe blind resistance of mat ter animated with an uncertain kind of\nlife; they were active and subtle beings having intelligence and will-\npower. Sometimes they took revenge for the slavery the magician\nattempted to impose on them and punished the audacious operator,\nwho feared them, although invoking their aid. Thus the incantation\noften assumed the shape of a prayer addressed to a power stronger\nthan man, and magic became a religion. lts rites developed side\nby side with the canonical liturgies, and frequently encroached on\nthem. The only barrier between them was the vague and constantly\nshifting borderline that limits the neighboring domains of religion\nand superstition.\n* * *\nThis half scientific, half religious magic, with its books and its\nprofessional adepts, is of Oriental origin. The old Grecian and\nltalian sorcery appears to have been rather mild. Conjurations to\navert hai1-storms, or formulas to draw rain, evil charms to render\nfields barren or to kill cattle, love philters and rejuvenating salves,\nold women's remedies, talismans against the evil eye,-all are based\non popular superstition and kept in existence by folk-lore and char-\nlatanism. Even the witches of Thessaly, whom people credited with\nthe power of making the moOn descend from the sky, were botanists\nmore than anything else, acquainted with the marvelous virtues of\nmedicinal plants; The terror that the necromancers inspired was due,\nto a considerable extent, to the use they made of the old belief in\nghosts. They exploited the superstiti;;-us belief in ghost-power and\nslipped metal tablets covered with execrations into graves, to bring\nmis fortune or death to some enemy. But neither in Greece nor in\nltaly is there any trace of a coherent system of doctrines, of an\noccult and learned discipline, nor of any sacerdotal instruction.\nOriginally the adepts in this dubious art were despised. As late\n:I.S the periorl of A 11g11~tU~ they were 2\"enerally f'ql1ivocal heg2:ar-\nwomen who plied their miserable tracte in the lowest quarters 01 mt:\nslums. But with the invasion of the Oriental religions the magician\nbegan. to receive more consideration, and his condition improved.\nHe was honored; and feared even more. During the second century\nscarcely anybody would have doubted his power to calI up divine\napparitions, converse with the superior spirits and even translate\nhimse:lf bodily into the heavns.\nHere the victorious progress of the Oriental religions shows\nitself. The Egyptian ritual originally was nothing but a collection\nof magical practices, properly speaking. The religious community\nimposed its will upon the\"gods by means of prayers or even threats.\nThe gods were compelled to obey the officiating priest, if the liturgy\nwas correctly performed, and if the incantations and the magic\nwords were pronounced with the right intonation. The well-in-\nformed priest had an almost unlimited power over alI supernatural\nbeings on land, in the water, in the air, in heaven and in hell. N 0-\nwhere was the gulf between things human and things divine smaller ,\nnowhere was the increasing differentiation that separated magic\nfrom religion less advanced. U ntil the end of paganism they re-\nmained so closely associated that it is sometimes difficult to distin-\nguish the texts of one from those of the other.\nThe Chaldeans also were past masters of sorcery, weIl versed\nin the knowledge of presages and experts ln conjuring the evils\nwhich the presages foretold. In Mesopotamia, where they were con-\nfidential advisers of the kings, the magicians belonged to the offi-\ncial clergy; t11ey invoked the aid of the state gods rn their incanta-\ntions, and their sacred science was as highly esteemed as haruspicy\nin Etruria. The immense prestige that continued to surround it,\nassured its persistence after the fall of Nineveh and Babylon. Its\ntradition was still alive under the Cresars. and a number of enchanters\nrightly or wrongly claimed to possess the ancient wisdom of Chal-\ndea. .\nAnd the thaumaturgus, who was supposed to be the heir of the\narchaic priests, assumed a wholly sacerdotal appearance at Rome.\nBeing an inspired sage who received confidential communications\nfrom heavenly spirits, he gave to his life and to his ~ppearance a\ndigqity almost equal to that of the philosopher. The common people\nsoon confused the two, and the Orientalizing philosophy of the last\nperiod of paganism actually accepted and justified alI the super-\nstitions of magic. Neo-Platonism, which concerned itself to a large\nextent with demonology , leaned more and more towards theurgy ,\nqnd w~s finallr completelr absorbec1 br it,\nBut the ancients expressly distinguished \"magic,\" which wa~\nalways under st\"spicion and disapproved of, from the legitimate an~\nhonorable rt for which the name \"theurgy\" was invented. The ter~\n\"magician\" (p.ayo..) , which applied to ali performers of miracles~\nproperly means the priests of Mazdaism, and a weli attested tra ,\ndition makes the Persians the authors of the real magic, that calle\n\"black magic\" by the Middle Ages. If they did riot invent it-be\ncause it is as old as hl'manity-they were at least the first to place i\nupon a dcctrinal foundation cand to assign to it a place in a clearly\nformulated theological system. The Mazdian dlalism gave a ne\npower to this perniciol'S knowledge by coriferring upon it the char-\nacter that wili distinguish it henceforth.\nnder what influences did the Persian magic come into exist-\nence ? When and how did it spread ? These are questions that are,\n,\nnot weIl elucidatd yet. The intimate fusion of the religious doc-\"\ntrines of the Iranian conquerors with those of the native clergy , which\ntook place at Babylon, occl'rred in this era of belief, and the magi-\ncians that were established in Mesopotamia combined their secret.\ntraditions with the rites and formulas codified by the Chaldean\nsorcerers. The universal cl'riosity of the Greeks soon took note\nof this marvelovs science. Naturalist philosophers like Democritus,\nthe great traveler, seem to have helped themselves more than once\nfrom the treasure of observations collected by the Oriental priests.\nWithot't a dot'bt they drew from these incongruous compilations,\nin which trt'th was mingled with the absurd and reality with the\nfantastical, the knowledge of some properties of plants and min-\neraIs, or of some experiments of physics. However, the limpid\nHellenic genius always turned away from the misty speculations\nof magic, giving them but slight consideration. But towards the end\nof the Alexandrine period the books ascribed to the half-mythical\nmasters of the Persian science, Zoroaster, Hostanes and H ystaspes,\nwere transJated into Greek, and until the end of paganism those\nnames enjoyed a prodigious au~hority. At the same time the Jews,\nwho were acquainted with the arcana of the Irano-.Chaldean doc-\ntrines and proceedings, made some of the recipes. known wherever\nthe dispersion brought them. Later,\"' a more immediate influence\nwas exercised upon the Roman world by the Persian colonies of\nAsia Minor, who retained an obstinate faith in their ancient national\nbeliefs.\nThe particular importance attributed to magic by the Mazdians\nis a necessary consequence of their dualist system, which has been\ntreated by us before. Ormuzd, residing in the heavens of light, is\nopposed by his irreconcilable adversary, Ahriman, ruler of the under-\nworld. The one stands for light, truth, and goodness, the other for\ndarkness, falsehood, and perversity. The one commands the kind\nspirits which protect the pious believer, the other is master over\ndemons whose malice causes alI the evils that afflict humanity. These\nopposite principles fight for the domination of the earth, and each\ncreates favorable or noxiou~ animaIs and plants. Everything on\nearth is either heavenly or infernal. Ahriman and his demons, who\nsurround man to tempt or hurt him, are evil gods and entirely\ndifferent from those of which Ormuzd's host consists. The magician\nsacrifices to them, either to avert evils they threaten, or to direct\ntheir ire against enemies of true belief, and the impure spirits re-\njoice in bloody immolations and delight in the fumes of flesh burn-\ning on the altar. Terrible acts and words attended alI immolations.\nPlutarch mentions an example of the dark sacrifices of the Mazdians.\n\"ln a mortar ,\" he says, \"they pound a certain herb called wild garlic,\nat the same time invoking Rades ( Ahriman) , and the powers of\ndarkness, then stirring this herb in the blood of a slaughtered wolf,\nthey take it away and drop it on a spot never reached by the rays\nof the sun.\" A necromantic performance indeed.\nWe can imagine the new strength which such a conception of\nthe universe must have given to magic. It was no longer an in-\ncongruous collection ot popular superstitions and scientific observa-\ntions. It became a reversed religion: its nocturnal rites were the\ndreadful liturgy of the infernal powers. There was no miracle the\nexperienced magician might not expect ta perform with the aid of\nthe demons, providing he knew how to master them ; he would in-\nvent any atrocity in his desire to gain the favor of the evil divinities\nwhom crime gratified and suffering pleased: Rence the number of\nmpious practices performed in the dark, practices the horror of\nwhich is equaled only by their absurdity: preparing beverages that\ndisturbed the senses and impaired the intellect; mixing subtle poi-\nsons extracted from demoniac plants and corpses already in astate\nof putridity ; immolating children in order to read the future in their\nquivering entrails or to conjure up ghosts. AlI the satanic refine-\nment that a perverted imagination in astate of insanity could con-\nceive pleased the malicious evil spirits; the more odious the mon-\nstrosity, the more assured was its efficacy. These abominable prac-\ntices were sternly suppressed by the Roman government. Whereas,\nin the case of an astrologer who had committed an open trans-\ngression, the law was satisfied with expelling him from Rome-\nwhither he generally soon returned,-the magician ws put in the\nuuv Lnr. vrr.L~ ...VU\". .\nsame class with murderers and poisoners, and was subjected to the\nvery severest punishment. He was nailed to the cross or thrown\nto the wild beasts. N ot only the practice of the profession, but even\nthe simple fact of possesing works of sorcery made any one subject\nto prosecution.\nHowever, there areways of reaching an agreement with the\npolice, and in this case customwas stronger than law. The inter-!\nmittent rigor of imperial edicts had no more power to destroy an\ninveterate superstition than the Chri~tian polemics had to cure it.\nIt was a recognition of its strength when State and Church united\nto fight it. Neither reached the root of the evil, for they did no\ndeny the reality of the power wielded by the sorcerers. As long a\nit was admitied that malicious spirits constantly interfered in huma\naffairs, and that there were secret means enabling the operator t\ndominate those, spirits or to share in their power, magic was in-;\ndestrt,ctible. It appealed to too many human passions to remai\ntinheard. If, on the one hand, the desire of penetrating the mys\nte ries of the future, the fear of unknown misfortunes, and hopej\nalways reviving, led the anxious masses to seek a chimerical cer\ntainty in astrology , on the other hand, in the case of magic, th\nblinding charm of the marvelous, the entreaties o.f love and ambition;\nthe bitter desire for revenge, the fa~cination of crime, and the in-j\ntoxication of bloodshed,-all the instincts that are not avowable and\nthat are satisfied in the dark, took turns in practicing their seduc-\ntions. Durlng the entire life of the Roman empire its existence(\ncontinued, and the very I:nystery that it was compelled to hide iff\"\nincreased its prestige and almost gave it the authority of a revela-\n.\nbon. ~\nA curious occurrence that took place towards the end of the fifth\n;\ncentury at Beirut, in Syria, shows how deeply even the strongest\"\nintellects of that period believed in the most atrocious practices of'\nmagic. One night some students of the famous law-school of that\ncity attempted to kill a slave in the circus; to aid the master in ob-\ntaining the favor of a woman who scorned him. Being reported\nthey had to deliver up their hidden volumes, of which those oi\nZoroaster and of Hostanes were found, together with those written\nby the astrologer Manetho. The whole city was agitated, and\nsearches proved that many young men preferred the study of the\nillicit science to that of Roman law. By order of the bishop a sol-\nemn auto-da-f was made of all this literatut:e, in the presence of\nthe city officiaIs and the clergy, and the most revolting passages\nwere read in public, \"in order to acquaint everybody with the con-\nceited and vain promises of the demons,\" as the pious writer of the\nstory says.\nThus the ancient traditions of magic continued .to live in the\nChristian Orient after the fall of paganism. They even outlived the\ndomination of the Church. The rigorous principles of its mono-\ntheism notwithstanding, Islam became infected wifh those Persan\nsuperstitions. In the Occident the evil art resisted persecution and\nanathemas with the same obstinacy as in the Orient. It remained\nalive in Rome all through the fifth century, and when scientific astrol-\nogy in Europe went down with science itself, the old Mazdian dual-\nism continued to manifest itself, du ring the entire Middle Ages in\nthe ceremonies of the black mass and the worshiping of Satan, until\nthe dawn of the modern era.\n* * *\nTwin sisters, born of the superstitions of the learned Orient,\nmagic and astrology always remained the hybrid daughters of sacer-\ndotal culture. Their existence was governed by two contrary prin-\nciples, reason and faith, and they never ceased to fluctuate between\nthese two poles of thought. Both were inspired by a belief in uni-\nversaI sympathy, according to which OCCtt and powerful relations\nexist between human beings and dead objects, aIl of which possess\na mysterious life. The doctrine of sidereal influences, combined\nwith a knowledge of the immutability of the celestial revolutions,\ncaused astrology to formulate the first theory of absolute fatalism,\nwhose decrees might be known beforehand. But, besides this rig-\norous determinism, it retained its childhood faith ~ the divine stars,\nwhose favor could be secured and malignity avoided through wor-\nship. In astrology the experimental method was reduced to the\ncompleting of prognostics based on the supposed character of the\nstellar gods.\nMagic also remained half empirical and half religious. Like\nour physics, it was based on observation, it proclaimed the constancy\nof the laws of nature, and sought to conquer the latent energies of\nthe mat&ial world in order to bring them under the dominion of\nman's wiU. But at the same time it recognized, in the powers that\nit claimed to conquer, spirits or demons whose protection might be\nobtained, whose iU-wiU might be appeased, or whose savage hostility\nmight be unchained by means of immolations and incantations.\nAU their aberrations notwithstanding, astrology and magic were\nnot entirely fruitless. Their counterfeit learning has been a genuine\nhelp to the progress of human knowledge. Because they awakeneq\n-;\nchimerical hopes and fallacious ambitions in the minds of their;\nadepts, researches were undertaken which undoubtedly would never\nhave been started or persisted in for the sake of a <:Iisinterested love;\nof truth. The observations, collected with untiring patience by the,\nOriental priests, caused the first physical and astronomical discov-\neries, and, as in the time of the scholastics, the occult sciences led\nto the exact ones. But when these understood the vanity of the\nastounding illusions on which astrology and magic had subsisted,\nthey broke up the foundations of the arts to which they owed their\nbirth.\nc\nJournals\u00a0Buddhist Articles\n{footnotes}\n{end}","title":"TITLE","type":"page"}