MAGI. — ARIMANIUS. 
535 
Pliny tells us, that they dwelt on the west side of Asphaltites, and 
that they w^ere a solitary kind of men, without women or money, and 
feeding upon the fruit of the palm-tree ; he adds, that they were con- 
stantly recruited by new comers, whom the surges of ill fortune had 
made weary of the world ; in which manner the community was kept 
up for several thousands of years, without any being born among them. 
Philo mentions two classes of Essenes, one of which followed a 
practical institution ; the other, who were called Therapeut®, placed 
their whole felicity in the contemplation of the divine nature. Detach- 
ing themselves entirely, from secular alFairs, they transferred their 
property to their relations and friends, and retired to solitary places, 
where they devoted themselves to a holy life. The principal society 
of this kind was formed near Alexandria, where they lived not far 
from each other, in separate cottages, each of which had its owm 
sacred apartments, to which the inhabitants retired for the purpose 
of devotion. 
Magi, or Magians. 
An ancient religious sect in Persia, and other eastern countries, who 
maintained that there were two principles, one the cause of all good, 
and the other the cause of all evil ; and, abominating the adoration of 
images, they worshipped God only by fire, which they looked upon as 
the brightest and most glorious symbol of Arimanius, or the evil 
god. This religion was reformed by Zoroaster, who maintained that 
there was one supreme independent Being, and under him two prin- 
ciples, or angels, one the angel of goodness and light, the other of 
evil and darkness; that there is a perpetual struggle between them, 
which shall last to the end of the world ; that then the angel of dark- 
ness and his disciples shall go into a world of their own, where they 
shall suffer in everlasting darkness. 
The priests of the Magi were the most skilful mathematicians and 
philosophers of the age in which they lived, insomuch that a learned 
man, and a Magian, became equivalent terms. The vulgar looked on 
their knowledge as supernatural ; and hence those who practised 
wicked and mischievous arts, taking upon themselves the name of 
magians, drew upon it that bad signification which the word Magician 
now bears among us. This sect still subsists under the denomination 
of Gaurs, or Gares, Gabres, in Persia, where they watch the sacred 
fire with the greatest care, and never suffer it to be extinguished. 
Arimanius. 
This is the name of the evil god of the ancient Persians. The 
Persian Magi held tw'o principles : a good daemon or god, and an 
evil one ; the first the author of all good, and the other of all evil : 
the former they supposed to be represented by light, and the latter 
by da rkness, as their truest symbols. The good principle they named 
Yezad or Yezdan, and Omoyd or Hormizda, which the Greeks wrote 
Oromasdes, and the evil daemon they called Abriman, and the Greeks 
Arimanius. Some of the Magians held both these principles to have 
