CHAPTER V
Belief in Magic in the Empire
Having shown reason for believing that the Natural History is a fairly accurate mirror of the science of the past, we come now to examine Pliny's own age and to observe to what extent his attitude towards magic was characteristic of it. "His own age," I say, but this is only roughly speaking, for it is the general period of the Roman Empire that we shall now consider, with the exception of the closing century which we reserve for later discussion. We shall have now to speak first of the general attitude towards magic in the Empire, and then in particular of two or three men or works that corroborate the rich evidence which Pliny, for the most part unconsciously, gave of the place of magic in the intellectual life of the time.
I. General attitude.—At the start, just as in our discussion of the Natural History, we find it necessary to distinguish the position of men towards what they called "magic." Pliny's condemnation of the magi and of all their beliefs as a matter of general principle was probably the regular attitude. A stigma seems to have been attached to the word "magic;" and magi seem to have been regarded as dangerous characters. In his history Dio Cassius represents Mæcenas as warning Octavius Cæsar that while the practice of divination is necessary, and augury by sacrifices and flight of birds an art to be encouraged, magicians ought to be entirely done away with. For, telling the truth in some cases
