ury B.C.,[1569] and after the Moslem conquest
of Persia and the suppression of Zoroastrianism a fire-worshiper or
Magian is especially a representative of magic.[1570] On the other hand,
it sometimes happens among adjoining tribes that the lower become the
special practitioners of magic,[1571] which is then considered to be a
mysterious art, alien to the official religion, and therefore proper to
the ministers of the old mysterious cults.

+898+. The power exercised by the magician extends over the whole world
of men and things, and is generally considered to be practically without
limit. He guards men against diseases, noxious beasts, and all other
forms of injury; he destroys one's enemies and guards one against plots
of enemies, including other magicians; he is able to induce or destroy
love, to give physical strength, to inflict disease, to kill, and to
restore to life; he ascends to heaven or descends into the world below;
he is able to coerce the gods themselves; in fact, he does everything
that a god is commonly supposed to do--the tendency was to identify the
magician and the god.[1572] Such identification is natural or necessary
in early faiths, inasmuch as it was held that there was no difference of
nature between men and gods. A god was as a rule the stronger. But how
gods arose and how they gained their superior strength was not clear,
and it might thus easily happen that a man should acquire powers equal
to those of divine beings.[1573]

+899+. The methods employed by the magician to effect his purpose are
various. In early times it is usual for him to fall into an ecstatic
state; by drinking intoxicating liquors, by violent movements, or by
contemplation he gets out of himself and comes into relations with the
mysterious potencies. In such a condition he acts as his imagination
suggests.[1574] But in the organized forms of magic long experience has
devised various means of producing results beyond the power of ordinary
men. Certain objects are magically charged with supernatural power
(charms), and these worn on the person guard the possessor against
malign influences. Various formulas are employed which are supposed to
coerce the Powers; these are sometimes names of ordinary objects
regarded as sacred, the name of some plant or animal.[1575] Names of
divine persons have special potency. The name of a god was supposed to
carry with it his power, and the utterance of his name secured all that
he could secu