_ A have thoughe that ovpbews foone after and in the age next enfuing, had brought in firft thefe fix 
B 
“me backe ; namely, That Thrace his naturall countrey and the place of his birth, was alcogither an 
of Plinies Naturall Hiftorie. £73 
perftitious ceremonies, by reafon of the propinquitie and neighbourhood of thatregion, and 
that he proceeded therewith to the advancement of phyficke, but for one thing which plucketh 
ignorantof Magicke,and knew not what itmeant, Bur as far asever I could find, the firft that is 
recorded to have commented and written ofthis Art, was offhanes, who accompanied Xerxes 
K. of the Perfians,in that voiage and expedition which (in warlike maner)he made into Greece: 
and to fay atruth, he it was that fowed the feeds of this monftrous Art, and infected therewith by 
the way,all parts of the world wherefoever he went and came: Howbeit; thofe authors and hifto- 
riographers who have fearched more nearely into the matter,fet down another Zoroaftres,borne 
in the ifle Proconnefus, who wrote fomewhat before Offhanes ; of that argument: neverthelefle; 
this is held forcertaine, That o/f/anes was the man,who moft of all other fetthe Grecke nations 
notonlyin a hot defire, bur alfo ina madding fitand enraged asit were, after Magicke. And yet + i mouta fecrné 
I muft needs fay that I have obfetved, that not onely at firft,but alfo from time to time, the grea- that thefewere the 
teft name that went of Jearned men and great philofophers, for their fingular skill and profound pete es el 
knowledge, arofe from the opinion that was of their infight in this Science. Certaine it is thats Tim.3.chep. ma- 
Pythagoras, Empedocles, Democritus, and Plato, were fo far in love therewith, that for toattaine ne ee who 
the knowledge thereof, they undertooke many voiages and journies over feaand land, asexiled terfeited the mic 
and banifhed perfons, wandering from place to place, more like travailers than ftudents ; and racles wroughtby 
being returned home againe into their owne countries, this Art they blazed abroad and highly meee 
ptaifed; thisthey heldas afecret and divine myfterie; As for Democritus he raifed a great name rant in the holie 
of Apollonices Captidenes,and Dardanus of Pheeniciajas well by the books of Dardanus his ma- Scrip ae 
fter(which he fetched from out of hisfepulchre where they were beftowed) as alfo by publithing fangech sof the 
commentaries of his owne, which were extracts and dravghts out of thofe authors and their wre prophet & faithful 
tings; which afterwards, received and learned by others, fo pafledfrom hand to hand, and were Bei < 
fo deeply engraven and imprinted in the mindsand memories of men, that I affure you I woon- forcerers and en 
der atnothing in the world fo much; for{o full they are of lyes,& fo lirtke or no truth, godlineffe, charters. For the 
and honeftie is conteined in them, that men of judgement and underftanding who approove j,. light ofthe pot 
and efteeme his other books of Philofophie, will not beleeve that thefe works were of Democré- pell, attributed all 
tw his making : howbeit,this is buta vaine conceit and perfuafion of theirs; for well it is known Ce eee 
and confeffed, that Democritus led away an infinit number of people by this means, and no mani co Magicks& were 
fomuch;filling their heads with many faire promifes, and the {weet impreflion thereof ravifhed not stle ro diftin- 
their {pirits after this Art. Moreover,there is yet one point more,whereat | woonder as much as  MCies done by the 
at any other; to wit, thar thefe two profeffions(Phyficke I meane, and Magicke)fourithed both finger of God or 
togither in onc age, and fhewed themfelves in their greareft glorie: which was about the Pelo- eine 
ponnefiacke warrein Greece, three hundred yeers after the foundation of ourcitie of Rome; at ufed by the devill 
what time as Hippocrates profefled the one, & Democritus for his part publifhed the other. Now andtuslims. 
there is another fation (as it were) of Magicians, which tooke the firft foundation from (40fé55 thowckee avant 
* lamnes,and Jotapes, ewes ; but many thoufands of yeers after Zoroa/fres : and yetthe *Cyprian of Chriftianitie, 
Magicke ts later than fo by as many yeers, But to come again unto our Magick abovefaid : there ag 
was a fecond 0/fhanes in the daies of K. Alexander the Great,who(by reafon thathe attended up= in Cypros by the 
on him in his traine, during his journies and voiages that he made) was himfclfe in greac repuca- preachrg of the 
tion abroad, and by meanes thereof gaveno finall credit and authoritie to this proteffion; for ;, eae 2 Ss 
that he had opportunitie thereby (asno man need to doubt) to travaile and compafle the globe Barnabas : for that 
of the Earth, & foto {pread and divulge this learning in all parts. And verely that this doctrine éunng De infan- 
hath been heretofore received in fome nations of Italy, itappeareth as well by good evidences tive Church, ma- 
and records extant at this day in the bodie of our Lawwritren in the twelvetables, as by other nie miracles were 
; : : : . wrought by the 
arguments andteftimonies which I have alledged in the former booke. Certes, inthe 657 yeere a pofties and Dit 
after the foundation of Rome citie, and notbefore (which fell out to be when Cn, Cornelius Lee ciples oi our Savix 
pidus and P, Liciniws Craffus were Confuls)there paffed a decree and a&t of the Senat,forbidding 9° [ely Chile 
exprefiely the killing of mankind for facrifice: wherby we may evidently fee, that untill this inhi- thar Keligion of 
bition or reftraint came forth, our progenitors and anceftors were given to thele inhumane and Chiifians to bea, 
monftrous facrifices, No quettion there is verely, but that this Art of Magicke was profeffed in ne ps ree) 
Fraunce, and continued untill our daies:for no longer is itagoe than fince the time of Tiberi this place, of the 
Cefarthattheir Druidee(the Priefts and Wile men of France)were by his authoritie put downe, pruefts of Cyprian 
as Venus called Cynaz 
. Kk togither rm, 
