Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/265

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 241 gion ; they know all things, and they deliver all C H A P. 11 M VIII. men ". These convenient maxims of reverence and implicit faith were doubtless imprinted with care on the tender minds of youth ; since the magi were the masters of education in Persia, and to their hands the children even of the royal family were intrusted ^ The Persian priests, who were of a speculative genius, preserved and investigated the secrets of oriental philosophy; and acquired, either by superior knowledge or superior art, the reputation of being well versed in some occult sciences, which have derived their appellation from the magi y. Those of more active dispositions mixed with the world in courts and cities ; and it is observed, that the administration of Artaxerxes was in a great mea- sure directed by the counsels of the sacerdotal order, whose dignity, either from policy or devotion, that prince restored to its ancient splendour ^ The first counsel of the magi was agreeable to the Spirit of unsociable genius of their faith % to the practice of an- ^ ^ cient kings ^, and even to the example of their legis- lator, who had fallen a victim to a religious war, ex- cited by his own intolerant zeal*". By an edict of Artaxerxes, the exercise of every worship, except that of Zoroaster, was severely prohibited. The temples of the Parthians, and the statues of their deified mon- archs, were thrown down with ignominy ^. The sword of Aristotle (such was the name given by the orientals to the polytheism and philosophy of the Greeks) was " Sadder, art. 8. ^ Plato in Alcibiad. y Pliny (Hist. Natur. 1. xxx. c. 1.) observes, that magic held mankind by the triple chain of religion, of physic, and of astronomy. ^ Agathias, 1. iv. p. 134. that the most refined and philosophic sects are constantly the most into- lerant. stroyed the temples of Greece. <= Hyde de Rel. Persar. c. 23, 24. D'Herbelot, Biblioth^que Orientale : Zerdusht. Life of Zoroaster in torn. ii. of the Zendavesta.. 6. Hereafter I shall make use of these passages. VOL. I. R
 * Mr. Hume, in the Natural History of Religion, sagaciously remarks,
 * » Cicero de Legibus, ii. 10. Xerxes, by the advice of the magi, de-
 * i Compare Moses of Chorene, 1. ii. c. 74. with Ammian. Marcellin. xxiii.