424 
plint's natueal histoey. 
[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 world 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. Eeturning home, it was 
upon the praises of this art that they expatiated — it was this 
that they 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- 
^9 Ajasson queries whether thisis a proper name, or an epithet merely. 
20 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. 
23 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 his 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. 
23 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. 
25 The works of Homer were transmitted in a similar manner. 
