De magica et partibus eius.
The Origin and Spread of Magic
Magic originated with Zoroaster, survived destruction by Ninus, was transmitted in vast works attributed to him, and later expanded by Democritus alongside the flourishing of medicine.
Zoroaster, king of the Bactrians, is believed to be the first originator of magic, whom some claim was himself Ham, the son of Noah — but with his name changed. Afterward Ninus, king of the Assyrians, conquered him in war and killed him, and had his books — filled with wicked arts — burned with fire. Aristotle, however, writes about this very figure, saying that books of his on the magical art — dictated by himself — reached as many as twenty-two hundred thousand verses, and that they have been handed down even to the memory of posterity. Democritus later expanded this art at the time when Hippocrates was held in high renown for the art of medicine.
Magic Condemned and Classified
Magic is condemned as a false and soul-destroying art, then systematically classified into five species of divination—necromancy, geomancy, hydromancy, aeromancy, and pyromancy—mapped to the elements and the underworld.
Magic is not admitted into philosophy, but stands outside it — a false profession, the teacher of every iniquity and malice, lying about what is true and yet truly harming souls. It leads people away from divine worship, urges the cultivation of demons, inflicts corruption of morals, and drives the minds of its followers toward every wicked deed and abomination. Taken in general, these embrace five kinds of wicked arts: divination (which means 'divination'), empty astrology, lot-casting, sorceries, and deceptions. Divination, moreover, contains five species under it. The first is necromancy, which means 'divination among the dead' — for necros means 'dead' in Greek and mortuus in Latin — from which comes necromancy: divination performed through a sacrifice of human blood, which demons thirst for and in which they delight when it is poured out. The second is geomancy, that is, divination in earth. The third is hydromancy, that is, divination by water. The fourth is aeromancy, that is, divination by air. The fifth is divination by fire, which is called pyromancy. Varro, for his part, said there were four elements in which divination consists: earth, water, fire, and air. So the first, necromancy, seems to belong to the underworld; the second to earth; the third to water; the fourth to air; and the fifth to fire.
The Remaining Forms of Divination
Astrology's three branches—haruspicy, augury, and horoscopy—are defined, followed by lot-diviners, sorcerers, and illusionists, completing the catalogue of magical practitioners.
Astrology is divided into three branches: haruspicy, augury, and horoscopy. Haruspices are so called as it were 'hour-watchers,' that is, observers of the hours, who watch for the right times in matters to be done, or haruspices as it were 'altar-inspectors,' who study the future in the entrails and fibers of sacrifices. Augury, or the taking of auspices, sometimes pertains to the eye and is called an auspice, as it were an 'inspection of birds,' because it is observed in the movement and flight of birds; sometimes it pertains to the ears, and then it is called augury, as it were the 'chatter of birds,' because it is caught by ear. Horoscopy, which is also called constellation-reading, is when people's fates are sought in the stars, as nativity-casters do, who study birth charts — those who in earlier times were especially called 'magi,' about whom we read in the Gospel.✦ Lot-diviners are those who seek out divinations by means of lots. Sorcerers are those who, through demonic incantations, or binding spells, or whatever other accursed kinds of remedies, accomplish wicked deeds by the cooperation and prompting of demons. Illusions are when, through phantastic deceptions involving the changing of things, human senses are mocked by demons' craft.
Origins of the Magical Arts
The eleven magical arts are inventoried, and their cultural origins are assigned—Mercury for prestidigitation, the Phrygians for augury, Tages for haruspicy, and the Persians for hydromancy.
So all together there are eleven: under divination, five—necromancy, geomancy, hydromancy, aeromancy, pyromancy; under astrology, three—haruspicy, the taking of auspices, and horoscopy; then three others—sortilage, sorcery, and prestidigitation. Mercury is said to have been the first to invent prestidigitation. The Phrygians invented augury. Tages was the first to hand down haruspicy to the Etruscans. Hydromancy first came from the Persians.
Appendix
A brief editorial appendix heading.
Appendix
The Three Subsistences
A transitional heading introducing the philosophical discussion of how things subsist in actuality, in the human understanding, and in the divine mind.
On the three subsistences of things.
How Things Subsist in Mind and in God
Things subsist in three modes—passing away in themselves, mutably in human understanding, and immutably in the divine mind—and the rational creature's every motion should be directed toward God, with outward expression mirroring inward thought.
Things exist in three ways: in actuality, in the understanding, and in the divine mind — that is, in the divine reason, in the reason of man, and in themselves. In themselves, without subsistence, they pass away; in the understanding of man, they do indeed subsist, but they are not immutable; in the divine mind, they subsist without any mutability. Likewise, what is in actuality is an image of what is in the mind of man, and what is in the mind of man is an image of what is in the divine mind. The rational creature was made for the divine mind. The visible creature was made for the rational creature. Therefore every motion and conversion of the rational creature ought to be toward the divine mind. Just as every motion and conversion of the visible creature is toward the rational creature, so too when a person has conceived something in mind, in order that what is known only to themselves may also become manifest to others, they depict its outward example. Afterward, for greater clarity, they also set forth in words how what has been proposed according to the example agrees with its reason.
The Image of Divine Wisdom in Creation
God made the rational creature directly to His likeness and the corporeal creature through the rational as intermediary, which is why Genesis speaks of light for the angels.
So, because God wanted to make his invisible wisdom visible, he painted its image in the mind of the rational creature, and then, by making a bodily creature, he outwardly showed to it what it had within. Therefore the rational creature was made, with no intermediary, in the first place, to the likeness of the divine plan; but the corporeal creature was made, through the rational creature as intermediary, to the likeness of the divine plan. This is why in Genesis, about angels, it is said under the name of light: He said.
The Trinitarian Pattern in Genesis
Genesis creation language is parsed into three stages—God's eternal plan, angelic execution, and the actual bringing forth of things—revealing a Trinitarian pattern of divine speech, angelic ministry, and creaturely subsistence.
God: "Let there be light."✦ And there was light.✦ But of God's other works it is said: "God said: Let it be." And so it was done. And next is added: "And God made it," because the angelic nature first existed in the divine plan by arrangement, and afterward began to subsist in its own being through creation.1 Other creatures, however, first existed in God's plan, then were brought into being in the angels' understanding, and finally began to subsist in their own right.2 For what was said, "God said: Let it be," pertains to the divine mind; "So it was done," to the angels' understanding; "And God made," to the actual bringing forth of things.3
Read the original Latin
Magicae repertor primus creditur Zoroastres, rex Bactrianorum, quem nonnulli asserunt ipsum esse Cham, filium Noe, sed nomine mutato. hunc postea Ninus, rex Assyriorum, bello victum interfecit, eiusque codices artibus maleficiorum plenos igne cremari fecit. scribit autem Aristoteles de hoc ipso, quod usque ad xxii centum milia versuum eius de arte magica ab ipso dictatos, libri eiusdem usque ad posteritatis memoriam traduxerunt. hanc artem postea Democritus ampliavit tempore quo Hippocrates in arte medicinae insignis habebatur. magica in philosophiam non recipitur, sed est extrinsecus falsa professione, omnis iniquitatis et malitiae magistra, de vero mentiens, et veraciter laedens animos, seducit a religione divina, culturam daemonum suadet, morum corruptionem ingerit, et ad omne scelus ac nefas mentes sequacium impellit. haec generaliter accepta quinque complectitur genera maleficiorum: manticen, quod sonat divinatio, et mathematicam vanam, sortilegia, maleficia, praestigia. mantice autem quinque continet species sub se, primam, necromantiam, quod interpretatur divinatio in mortuis, necros enim Graece, mortuus Latine, unde necromantia, divinatio, quae fit per sacrificium sanguinis humani, quem daemones sitiunt, et in eo delectantur effuso. secunda est geomantia, id est, divinatio in terra.
tertia est hydromantia, id est, divinatio in aqua. quarta est aerimantia, id est, divinatio in aere. quinta est divinatio in igne, quae dicitur pyromantia. Varro enim quattuor dixit esse, in quibus divinatio constaret, terram, aquam, ignem, aerem. prima ergo, id est, necromantia, ad infernum videtur pertinere, secunda ad terram, tertia ad aquam, quarta ad aerem, quinta ad ignem.
Mathematica dividitur in tres species: in aruspicinam, in augurium, et in horoscopicam. aruspices sunt dicti quasi horuspices, id est, horarum inspectores, qui observant tempora in rebus agendis, vel aruspices quasi aras inspicientes, qui in extis et fibris sacrificiorum futura considerant. augurium vel auspicium aliquando ad oculum pertinet, et dicitur auspicium quasi avispicium, quia in motu et volatu avium attenditur; aliquando ad aures pertinet, et tunc dicitur augurium quasi garritus avium, quia aure percipitur. horoscopica, quae etiam constellatio dicitur, est quando in stellis fata hominum quaeruntur, sicut genethliaci faciunt, qui nativitates observant, qui olim specialiter magi nuncupabantur, de quibus in evangelio legimus. sortilegi sunt qui sortibus divinationes quaerunt. malefici sunt qui per incantationes daemonicas, sive ligaturas, vel alia quaecumque exsecrabilia remediorum genera, cooperatione daemonum atque instinctu nefanda perficiunt. praestigia sunt, quando, per phantasticas illusiones circa rerum immutationem, sensibus humanis arte daemonia illuditur.
Sunt ergo omnes simul undecim: sub mantice, quinque, id est, necromantia, geomantia, hydromantia, aerimantia, pyromantia; sub mathematica, tres, id est, aruspicina, auspicium, horoscopica; postea tres aliae, id est, sortilegium, maleficium, praestigium. praestigia Mercurius dicitur primus invenisse. auguria Phryges invenerunt. aruspicinam Tages primus Etruscis tradidit. hydromantia primum a Persis venit.
APPENDIX
De tribus rerum subsistentiis.
Tribus modis res subsistere habent: in actu, in intellectu, in mente divina; hoc est in ratione divina, in ratione hominis, in seipsis. in seipsis sine subsistentia transeunt, in intellectu hominis subsistunt quidem, sed tamen immutabiles non sunt, in mente divina sine omni mutabilitate subsistunt. item quod est in actu imago est eius quod est in mente hominis, et quod est in mente hominis imago est eius quod est in mente divina. ad mentem divinam facta est creatura rationalis. ad creaturam rationalem facta est creatura visibilis. ideo omnis motus et conversio creaturae rationalis esse debet ad mentem divinam. sicut omnis motus et conversio creaturae visibilis est ad rationalem creaturam, sicut homo, cum quid mente conceperit, ut aliis etiam patere possit quod sibi soli notum est, foris exemplum eius depingit. postea etiam ad maiorem evidentiam, quomodo id quod ad exemplum propositum est cum ratione eius concordet, verbis exponit.
ita, Deus volens ostendere invisibilem sapientiam suam, exemplum eius in mente creaturae rationalis depinxit, ac deinde corpoream creaturam faciens foris illi quid intus haberet ostendit. rationalis ergo creatura ad similitudinem divinae rationis, nullo mediante, primo loco facta est, creatura vero corporea, mediante rationali creatura, facta est ad similitudinem divinae rationis. hinc est quod de angelis sub appellatione lucis in Genesi dicitur: Dixit
Deus: Fiat lux. Et facta est lux. de ceteris vero operibus Dei dicitur: Dixit Deus: Fiat. Et factum est ita. et deinde adiungitur: Et fecit Deus, quia angelica natura primum in ratione divina fuit per dispositionem, postea in se ipsa per creationem subsistere coepit. aliae autem creaturae primum in ratione Dei fuerunt, postea in cognitione angelorum factae sunt, postremo in seipsis subsistere coeperunt. quod enim dictum est, Dixit Deus: Fiat, hoc ad mentem divinam pertinet; factum est ita, ad intellectum angelorum; Et fecit Deus, ad actum rerum.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Matt.2.1-Matt.2.12 — Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, Matt.2.2 — Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east, and we have come to worship him. Matt.2.3 — But when King Herod heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Matt.2.4 — And having gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ is born. Matt.2.5 — But they said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it has been written through the prophet: Matt.2.6 — And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. Matt.2.7 — Then Herod secretly called the magi and carefully ascertained from them the time the star had appeared. Matt.2.8 — And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for the child, and when you have found him, report to me so that I too may come and worship him." Matt.2.9 — After they had heard the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen in the east went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. Matt.2.10 — Seeing the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. Matt.2.11 — And entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and falling down they worshiped him, and opening their treasures they offered him gifts: gold and frankincense and myrrh. Matt.2.12 — And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they withdrew to their own country by another road.
- ↩Gen.1.3 — And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
- ↩Gen.1.3 — And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
Notes
- 1 ↩The threefold sequence — (1) existing in the divine plan (in ratione divina) by arrangement (dispositio), (2) subsisting in itself through creation — maps the angelic nature's pre-temporal being in God's mind to its actual created existence. 'Dispositio' here carries the sense of God's ordering counsel.
- 2 ↩The three-stage ontology — (1) in God's plan (ratio Dei), (2) in the angels' understanding (cognitio angelorum), (3) in their own subsistence — reflects the Augustinian-Thomist hierarchy of being: things exist first in the divine intellect, then as exemplar ideas in angelic minds, then as concrete creatures. 'Cognitio angelorum' refers to angels knowing creatures through the divine exemplar ideas before those creatures actually exist.
- 3 ↩Hugh maps three phrases from the Genesis creation account onto three levels of reality: (1) 'Dixit Deus: Fiat' → divine mind (mens divina), the eternal exemplar; (2) 'Factum est ita' → angelic understanding (intellectus angelorum), the creature as known in the angelic cognition of the divine ideas; (3) 'Et fecit Deus' → the act of things (actum rerum), the creature's actual concrete existence. This is a hermeneutical application of the Augustinian threefold vision: divine eternal idea, angelic participation, temporal enactment.
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