s called Pharmacius, or Pharmachus;
that he taught men, before the flood, enchantments, spells, magic
arts, and remedies against enchantments. St. Clement, of Alexandria,
in his recognitions, says that Ham, the son of Noah, received that art
from heaven, and taught it to Misraim, his son, the father of the
Egyptians.

In the Scripture, the name of _Mage_ or _Magus_ is never used in a
good sense as signifying philosophers who studied astronomy, and were
versed in divine and supernatural things, except in speaking of the
Magi who came to adore Jesus Christ at Bethlehem.[146] Everywhere else
the Scriptures condemn and abhor magic and magicians.[147] They
severely forbid the Hebrews to consult such persons and things. They
speak with abhorrence of _Simon and of Elymas_, well-known magicians,
in the Acts of the Apostles;[148] and of the magicians of Pharaoh, who
counterfeited by their illusions the true miracles of Moses. It seems
likely that the Israelites had taken the habit in Egypt, where they
then were, of consulting such persons, since Moses forbids them in so
many different places, and so severely, either to listen to them or to
place confidence in their predictions.

The Chevalier Marsham shows very clearly that the school for magic
among the Egyptians is the most ancient ever known in the world; that
from thence it spread amongst the Chaldeans, the Babylonians, the
Greeks and Persians. St. Paul informs us that Jannes and Jambres,
famous magicians of the time of Pharaoh, resisted Moses. Pliny
remarks, that anciently, there was no science more renowned, or more
in honor, than that of magic: _Summam litterarum claritatem gloriamque
ex ea scientia antiquitus et pene semper petitam._

Porphyry[149] says that King Darius, son of Hystaspes, had so high an
idea of the art of magic that he caused to be engraved on the
mausoleum of his father Hystaspes, "_That he had been the chief and
the master of the Magi of Persia_."

The embassy that Balak, King of the Moabites, sent to Balaam the son
of Beor, who dwelt in the mountains of the East, towards Persia and
Chaldea,[150] to entreat him to come and curse and devote to death the
Israelites who threatened to invade his country, shows the antiquity
of magic, and of the magical superstitions of that country. For will
it be said that these maledictions and inflictions were the effect of
the inspiration of the good Spirit, or the work of good angels? I
acknowledge that Balaam wa