424 ' flint's natural history. [Book XXX. 



The first person, so far as I can ascertain, who wrote upon 

 magic, and whose works are still in existence, was Osthanes,^* 

 who accompanied Xerxes, the Persian king, in his expedition 

 against Greece. It was he who first^'' disseminated, as it were, 

 the germs of this monstrous art, and tainted therewith all parts 

 of the Avorld through which the Persians passed. Authors 

 who have made diligent enquiries into this subject, make men- 

 tion of a second Zoroaster, a native of Proconnesus, as living a 

 little before the time of Osthanes. That it was this same 

 Osthanes, more particularly, that inspired the Greeks, not with 

 a fondness only, but a rage, for the art of magic, is a fact be- 

 yond all doubt : though at the same time I would remark, 

 that in the most ancient times, and indeed almost invariably, 

 it was in this ^^ branch of science, that was sought the highest 

 point of celebrity and of literary renown. At all events, 

 Pythagoras, we find, Empedocles, Democritus, and Plato, 

 crossed the seas, in order to attain a knowledge thereof, sub- 

 mitting, to speak the truth, more to the evils of exile "^ than 

 to the mere inconveniences of travel. Returning home, it was 

 upon the praises of this art that they expatiated — it was this 

 that the)'" held as one of their grandest mysteries. It was 

 Democritus, too, who first drew attention to Apollobeches ~^ of 

 Coptos, to Dardanus,^* and to Phoenix : the works of Dardanus 

 he sought in the tomb of that personage, and his own were 

 composed in accordance with the doctrines there found. That 

 these doctrines should have been received by any portion of 

 mankind, and transmitted to us by the aid of memory, is to 

 me surprising beyond anything I can conceive.^^ All the par- 

 ticulars there found are so utterly incredible, so utterly re- 



^^ Ajasson queries whether thisisapropername,or an epithet merely. 



^^ Ajasson combats this assertion at considerable length, and with good 

 reason. It is quite inadmissible. 



21 The mysteries of philosophy, as Ajasson remarks, were not necessarily 

 identical with the magic art. 



-- In reality, Pythagoras was an exile from the tyranny of the ruler of 

 Samos, Plato from the court of Dionysius the Younger, and Democritus 

 from the ignorance of liis fellow-countrymen of Abdera. There is no 

 doubt that Pythagoras and Democritus made considerable researches into 

 the art of magic as practised in the East. 



■-3 Nothing is known of this writer. 



2* Dardanus, the ancestor of the Trojans, if he is the person here meant, 

 is said to have introduced the worship of the gods into Samothrace. 



'■^5 The works of Homer were transmitted in a similar manner. 



