(2) Zoroaster. To destroy this, and restore the pure law of Ormuzd. was Zoroaster's mission. After much and long-continued opposition on the part of the adherents and defenders of existing corruptions, he succeeded in his virtuous pur poses, and caused his system eventually to prevail. The Magi, as a caste. did not escape from his reforming hand. He appears to have remodeled their institute, dividing it into three great classes: (1) Herbeds, or learners; (2) Mobeds, or mas s ters; (3) Destur Mobeds,• or perfect scholars Zendav. 771, 260. The Magi alone he lowed to perform the religious rites; they pos sessed the forms of prayer and worship; .they knew the ceremonies which availed to conciliate Ormuzd, and were obligatory in the public offer ings (Herod. i. 132). They accordingly became the sole medium of communication between the Deity and his creatures, and through them alone Ormuzd made his will known ; none but them could see into the future, and they disclosed their knowledge to those only who were so fortunate as to conciliate their good will. Hence the power which the Magian priesthood possessed. The gen eral belief in the trustworthiness of their predic tions, especially when founded on astrological cal culations, the all but universal custom of con sulting the will of the divinity before entering on any important undertaking, and the blind faith which was reposed in all that the Nlagi did, re ported, or commanded, combined to create for that sacerdotal caste a power, both in public and in private concerns, which has probably never been exceeded.
(3) Extent of Functions. Neither the func tions nor the influence of this sacred caste were reserved for peculiar, rare, and extraordinary' oc casions, but ran through the web of human life. At the break of day they had to chant the di vine hymns. This office being performed, then came the daily sacrifice to be offered, not indis criminately, but to the divinities whose day in each case it was—an office therefore which none but the initiated could fulfill. As an illustration of the high estimation in which the Magi were held, it may be mentioned that it was consid ered a necessary part of a princely education to have been instructed in the peculiar learning of their sacred order, which was an honor conceded to no other but royal personages, except in very rare and very peculiar instances (Cicero, De Divin. i, 23; Plutarch, Themist.). This Magian learning embraced everything which regarded the higher culture of the nation, being known in his tory under the designation of the law of the Medes and Persians. It comprised the knowl edge of all the sacred rites. customs, usages, and observances, which related not merely to the wor ship of the gods, but to the whole private life of every worshiper of Ormuzd—the duties which, as such, he had to observe, and the punishments which followed the neglect of these obligations; whence may be learnt how necessary the act of the priest on all occasions was. Under the veil of religion the priest had bound himself up with the entire of public and domestic life. The judi cial office, too, appears to have been in the time of Cambyses, in the hands of the Magi; for from them was chosen the college or bench of royal judges, which makes its appearance in the history of that monarch (Herod. iv:31; vii:194; Esther i :13). Nlen who held these offices possessed this learning, and exerted this influence with the peo ple, may have proved a check to Oriental despot ism, no less powerful than constitutional, though they were sometimes unable to guarantee their own lives against the wrath of the monarch (Herod. vii :194; Dan. ii :12). If we turn to the books of scripture we find the import of what has been said confirmed, especially in the book of Daniel. where the great influence of the Magi is
well illustrated.
(4) In Various Lands. The Magi were not confined to the Medes and Persians. Since they are mentioned by Herodotus as one of the orig inal tribes of the .Medes, they may have been primitively a Median priesthood. If so, they ex tended themselves into other lands. Possibly Nlagi may have been at first not the name of a particular tribe or priestly caste, but a general designation for priests or learned men: as Pha raoh denoted not an individual, but generally king or ruler. However this may be, the Chaldzeans also had an organized order of Magi, a caste of sacerdotal scholars, which borc the name of 'wise men' (Jer. 1:35) ; 'the wise men of Babylon' (Dan. ii:t2), among whom Daniel is classed (ii: 18, 24). Among the Greeks and Romans they wereknown under the name of Chaldwans (Strabo, xvi, p. 762; Diog. Laert. PITC711. 1), and also of Magi (Diog. Laert. viii, 1, 3). They lived scat tered over the land in different places (Dan. ii: 14; Strabo, xvi. p. 739), and had possessions of their own. The temple of Belus was employed by them for astronomical observations; but their astronomy was connected with the worship of the heavenly bodies practiced by the Babylonians (Diod. Sic. ii, 31; Ephraem Syr. Op. ii, 488; con sult Ideler, in the Transactions of the Berlin Academy for 1824-5), and was specially directed to vain attempts to foretell the future, predict the fate of individuals or of communities, and sway the present, in alliance with augury, in cantation, and magic (Is. xlvii :9, 13; Dan. ii).
It is easy to understand how the lofty science (so called) of these Mag-i—lofty while its schol ars surpassed the rest of the world in knowledge, and were the associates, the advisers, the friends, and the monitors of great and flourishing mon archs, of indeed successively the rulers of the world—might, could indeed hardly fail, as resting on no basis of fact or reality, in process of time, to sink into its own native insignificance, and be come either a mere bugbear to frighten the ig norant, or an instrument to aid the fraudulent: thus hastening on to the contempt into which all falsities are sure sooner or later to fall. The decline was indeed gradual ; ages passed ere it was completed; but as soon as it ceased to have the support afforded bv the mighty and splendid thrones of Asia, it began to lose its authority, which the progress of knowledge and the advent of Christ prevented it from ever regaining.
(5) In New Testament Times. The estima tion, however, in which Simon Magus was evi dently held, as recorded in the Acts Csome great one,' etc.), gives reason to think that Magianism still retained a large share of its influence at the commencement of our era. It seems, in deed, to have held a sort of middle position, half way between its ancient splendor and its coming degradation: whence we may understand the pro priety of the visit paid bv the Magi to the new born King of the Jews (Nlatt. 'star in the East'). For if the system had been then sunk so low as to correspond in any degree with our conception of these pretended arts, it is difficult to assign, at least to the unbeliever, a sufficient reason why the visit was made, or at any rate why it' was recorded; but its credibility is mate rially furthered if the circumstances of the case are such as to allow us to regard that visit as a homage paid by the representatives of the highest existing influences to the rising Star of a New Day, in the fuller light of which they were speed ily to vanish. (See STAR.) (Trench, Star of the Wise Men; Rawlinson, Ancient Monarch. iii, 125 136, 218, sq.; iv, 391-395.) J. R. B.