n was still alive under the Caesars, and a number
of enchanters rightly or wrongly claimed to possess the ancient wisdom of
Chaldea.[66]

And the thaumaturgus, who was supposed to be the heir of the archaic
priests, assumed a wholly sacerdotal appearance at Rome. Being an inspired
sage who received confidential communications from heavenly spirits, he
gave to his life and to his appearance a dignity almost equal to that of
the philosopher. The common people soon confused the two,[67] and the
Orientalizing philosophy of the last period of paganism actually accepted
and justified all the superstitions of magic. Neo-Platonism, which
concerned itself to a large extent with demonology, leaned more and more
towards theurgy, and was finally completely absorbed by it.

But the ancients expressly distinguished, "magic," which was always under
suspicion and disapproved of, from the legitimate and honorable art for
which the name "theurgy"[68] was invented. The term "magician," ([Greek:
magos]) which applied to all performers of miracles, properly means the
priests of Mazdaism, and a well attested tradition makes the Persians[69]
the authors of the real magic, that called "black magic" by the Middle
Ages. If they did not invent it--because it is as old as humanity--they
were at least the first to place it upon a doctrinal foundation and to
assign to it a place {189} in a clearly formulated theological system. The
Mazdean dualism gave a new power to this pernicious knowledge by conferring
upon it the character that will distinguish it henceforth.

Under what influences did the Persian magic come into existence? When and
how did it spread? These are questions that are not well elucidated yet.
The intimate fusion of the religious doctrines of the Iranian conquerors
with those of the native clergy, which took place at Babylon, occurred in
this era of belief,[70] and the magicians that were established in
Mesopotamia combined their secret traditions with the rites and formulas
codified by the Chaldean sorcerers. The universal curiosity of the Greeks
soon took note of this marvelous science. Naturalist philosophers like
Democritus,[71] the great traveler, seem to have helped themselves more
than once from the treasure of observations collected by the Oriental
priests. Without a doubt they drew from these incongruous compilations, in
which truth was mingled with the absurd and reality with the fantastical,
the knowledge of some properti