As to black magic, it seemed
hardly worth while to enact severe laws, when charms, amulets,
and even gestures could thwart its worst machinations.
Moreover, under the old empire a real science was coming in, and
thought was progressing. Both the theory and practice of magic
were more and more held up to ridicule. Even as early a writer
as Ennius ridiculed the idea that magicians, who were generally
poor and hungry themselves, could bestow wealth on others;
Pliny, in his _Natural Philosophy_, showed at great length their
absurdities and cheatery; others followed in the same line of
thought, and the whole theory, except among the very lowest
classes, seemed dying out.
But with the development of Christian theology came a change.
The idea of the active interference of Satan in magic, which had
come into the Hebrew mind with especial force from Persia during
the captivity of Israel, had passed from the Hebrew Scriptures
into Christianity, and had been made still stronger by various
statements in the New Testament.
Pages:
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690