Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/756

* MAGGOT. 674 MAGIC. viaga, feed). The footless larva of any true fly. See Fly. MAGI, jiiA'ji (Lat. Magus, Gk. Mdyos. Magos, from OPers. mayii. Av. moyu. magian, from Assyr. iiiahhii. magician, sootlisaj'er). The name 01 the priestly order in ancient Media and Persia. Originally the designation Magi denoted members of a certain Median tribe, as we know from Herodotus (i. 101) ; but the religious associa- tion of the name seems to have existed from the earliest times. In Persian history the spirit- ual advisers of the Achiemenian kings are al- ways called Magi, and their Median origin is generally acknowledged. Cyrus the Great was regularly attended by Magian priests; and, if we may believe Xenophon, it was Cyrus who first formally established them, although, as a priestly institution, the Magi must have been in existence before. A festival of the 'slay- ing of the Magians' was long celebrated by the Persians in commemoration of the overthrow of the False Smcrdis. a Magus, by Darius, and so of their not having been forced again to assume the Median yoke. The hatred of the sacerdotal caste evinced in this was probably more political and anti-Jledian than it was religious or anti- clerical. The Median Magi were traditionally the priestly masters of the Persians; it was not law- ful for a Persian to sacrifice without one of the ilagi, and the power of this sacerdotal body must have l)een considerable in alt'airs of state as it was in religion. There seems every reason to believe that Zo- roaster Avas a Magian. if we may judge from ref- erences in Pablavi literature, in the Greek aijd Roman writers, and in later Persian tradition. He was born in the very region of iledia where the Magi abounded. (See Zoeo.ster. ) In the Avesta (q.v.) the name Magus occurs certainly once in an allusion to a "hater of the Magi' (Moyii-lbis). The Parsis or modern Zoroas- trians have kept up the tradition of the name, for the higher order of priests are called Mohcds, literally "Jlagian Masters.' With regard to their doctrines it may be added that, so far as the Avesta may be presumed to represent the ilagian code, and so far as we can judge from Herodotus, Plutarch, and from other writers, the ilagi recog- nized the principle of good and evil, light and darkness, as represented by Ormazd and Ahri- man: they believed in a resurrection, a future life, and the advent of a saviour: and in certain peculiar rites and customs, esiiecially the preser- vation of the elements fire, earth, and water from defilement. There seems little reason to question that the Magi exercised considerable influence even out- side of Media and Persia, or that they were con- nected or associated with the priesthood of Baby- lonia and Chaldea. Allusions in the Book of Daniel would imply this; and Rrib-Mnri. in Jere- miah xxxix. .S. may denote the 'Chief of the JIagi.' althoiigh this interpretation is denied by some scholars. The ilagian power was broken by the overthrow of the Persian Empire through Alexander's conquest and the consequent deca- dence of the Zoroastrian faith. Magism seems to have waned during the darker period of the Parthian sway, although it became paramount again under the Sassanian d>Tiasty. To the conditi(}ji of the priesthood during the darker period of the Parthians may be ascribed in some measure the evil sense associated with the word Magi by the Romans and by later Greek writers, although it was scornfully used as early as Sophocles — no doubt with an anti- Persian animus. The arts of divination which the Magi nuist have practiced from the earliest times seem to have brought the word into dis- repute as wizard, necromancer, sorcerer, magi- cian. Luke likewise uses it as a sorcerer (Act* xiii. 6). But the term is employed in. its true sense by Matthew (ii. 1), of the wise men who came from the East to .lerusalem to worship Christ. The significance of this must be observed because the Jlessianic doctrine was an old and established one in Zoroastrianism. MAGIC (Lat. magice, from Gk. ijaym-fi, magi- kC, magic, sc. rix^< techiw, art. from itaytKb^, magikos, magic, from yiyo%, Magos, Magian, from OPers. Mayii, Magiau). The art, or pre- tended art, of controlling occult forces and of producing effects contrary to the known order of nature. This definition, however, is in direct opposition to the original understanding of the art; for primitive peoples conceive nature not as governed by undeviating laws, but as animated by mood and whim, similar to man's, and in its activities normally subject to powers like to his. To the ])rimitive mind the whole natural world is personified and all magic is natural magic. Not that primitive peoples are without the conception of a definite organization of nature ; on the con- trary, there is hardly a tribe which has not its elaborate cosmology. Indeed (such is the paradox of progress), it may even be said that the theory of the equality of cause and effect, upon which is founded our modern conception of a fixed order in nature, is but a refinement of the principle, fundamental to the gi'eat body of magic, that like atTects like — that, for example, the red juice of a berry, because it is of the hue of blood, will cure a fever, believed to be a disease of the blood. JIagic with savages is thus the art of the knowledge of nature. It represents to them sci- ence and wisdom ; and the whole organization of primitive society is ruled by rites and beliefs of magical character. Xotably this is the case among the Polynesians, with their elaborate system of tabu, which is really proscription for magical reasons. Tabu determines the age of marriage, the time of planting and harvesting, the open and closed season for fish or game, as well as ceremonial conduct. The organization of savage tribes into cults or societies, practically uni- versal, invariably derives its power from some magical reason, usually associated with toteniism (q.v.) and inculcated by barbarous initiations. Everywhere social prerogative and prohibition is governed by magic nile and rite^. A typical pliilosophy of magical beliefs is set forth by Hewitt, a cultivated Iroquois. The Iroquois believe that the motive underlying all efTort is desire for welfare, to secure which men often struggle against adverse environment. All things and phenomena — the sun and the star^. the rneks. the tides, the trees, as well .as plants, animals, and men — have life and personality. All think, feel. will, do good and harm; each striving for its own welfare. All these personalities ope- rate through a primitive power which the Iro- quois call orendn. This power is not wholly under the control of its possessor; it may even act adversely to his welfare; but it is imder the control or influence of seers and men of wisdom.