EGYPTIAN MAGIC. 387 and removing them, exactly as we find it in the Europe of the fif- teenth century ; while the counter-charms and imprecations em- ployed against him show that there was virtually no difference be- tween sacred and prohibited magic* The same lesson is taught by Hebrew tradition, which admitted that wonders could be wrought by the Elohim acherim, or " other gods," as instanced in the contest between Moses and the Chakamim, or wise men of Egypt. The Talmudists inform us that when he changed his rod into a serpent Pharaoh laughed at him for parading such tricks in a land full of magicians, and sent for some little children who readily performed the same feat, but the failure of Jannes and Jambres to cope with him when he came to the plague of the lice was because their art would not extend to the imitation of things smaller than a barley- corn. The connection between their magic and the worship of false gods is seen in the legend that it was Jannes and Jambres who fabricated for Aaron the golden calf. A similar indication is seen in the Samaritan tradition that the falling away of the He- brews from the ancient faith was explicable by the magic arts of Eli and Samuel, who studied them in the books of Balaam, gain- ing thereby wealth and power, and seducing the people from the worship of Jehovah. f How great was the impression produced on the surrounding nations by the powers of the Egyptian Chakamim is shown by the later Jews, who, familiar as they were with the mysteries of the Magi and Chaldeans, yet declared that of the ten portions of magic bestowed upon the earth, nine had fallen to the lot of Egypt. That kingdom therefore furnishes naturally enough the oldest record of a trial for sorcery, occurring about 1300 b.c, showing that the use of magic was not regarded as criminal of itself, but only when employed by an unauthorized person for wrongful ends.
- Rig Veda V. vm. iv. 15, 16, 24 (Ludwigs Rig Veda, Prag, 1876-8, II. 379,
III. 345).— Atharva Veda n. 27, in. 6, iv. 18, v. 14, vi. 37, 75 (Grill, Hundcrt Lieder des Atharva Veda, Tubingen, 1879). t Polano, Selections from the Talmud, pp. 174, 176. — Augustin. de Trinitate Lib. in. c. 8, 9.— Targum of Palestine on Exod. i.; vii. 11; Numb. xxii. 22.— Fa- brieii Cod. Pseudepig. Vet. Testam. I. 813 ; II. 106.— Chron. Samaritan, xli., xliii. Curiously enough, the fame as magicians of Moses and ot his opponents was preserved together. Pliny (N. H. xxx. 2) attributes the founding of what he calls the second school of magic to " Moses and Jannes and Lotapes."
