The record-union., 1897-08-13

4
his command The notion seems odd
to us-but it was universal-not in this
respect alone A casual remark Of PHI
ny's informs US that the Imperial City
was not properly called Rome. 1t had
a name with which only some few of
the highest dignitaries were acquainted,
and a certain knight was put to death
upon suspicion of revealing it. There
| is scarcely a chance that We shall ever
! learn that curious secret now. The real
| name was thus concealed because a foe
who gained possession of 1t would be-
| come master of the city by that simple
means So it was with spirits and the
| gods themselves. The science of the
| Kabala, which occupied, we may say,
| all the learned of Europe and Islam for
many generations was based upon
/ this principle. Jewish Missionaries
! founded it, Devoutly assuming that all
| knowledge human and spiritual is con-
| tained in the Bible, and that magic is
branch of knowledge, they drew the
| conclusions that its principles could
| be found there by those who understand
| how TO seek them If anybody wish
| to know the complicated system they
| devised for this purpose, he will find it
/ set forth, as intelligently as the cir
cumstances allow, in the late Professor
Morley's Cornelius Agrippa." One may
irreverently observe that the process
| bears a singular resemblance to Mr.. Ig-
natius Donnelly's cryptic Interpretation
| Of Shakespeare.
However, the kabalists in the result
made out certain names of angels or
! srr4 L,
do their behests-that is, they ought to
have succeeded, and any leading Kab-
alist felt sure that his living rivals had
/ done so, though he himself had failed;
while the dead, of course had enjoyed
boundless authority over angels or
devils. There is a paradox in this idea
of controlling the agents of Omnipo-
| tence. One recognizes the illogical
| though orderly imagination of the ORR
ent. But witchcraft was a formless,
! sordid superstition which did not con-
! Germ itself with reason or consistency.
We must not say that it was a charac-
teristic invention of the dark ages, be-
cause most of it's absurd and ugly feat
ures can be traced among the vulgar
| delusionS of Rome, but men of sense
then laughed at them, while no one ap-
parently in the ages of faith had intel
| ligence enough TO doubt. At the same
time Romans of culture might well
| have believed in magic. The accounts
! which reach us from witnesses beyond
cavil prove that the art of Illusion"
was cultivated with singular success
then, while there is no evidence that it's
secret methods Were published as now.
Lucian the shrewdest of mortals, with
whom, like DIR. Johnson, 'incredulity
was disease" confesses that the feats
of the magician Alexander seemed be-
yond human accomplishment but he
would not believe, for the excellent rea-
son that the gods would never display
their powers through the agency of
such Scoundrel. But an argument Of
/ CELSIUS in his True Discourse" against
Christianity is the strongest evidence.
Your Prophet" % he wrote to Origen,
cured diseases, restored the dead to
! life fed multitudes with a few loaves.
Be it sol You see Egyptian wizards do
as much every day for a few halfpence.
! They, too, drive out devils, heal the sick,
call up the spirits of the dead, provide
suppers and tables covered with dishes
in the street and make things seem
what they are not. But we do not call
these men Sons Of God; we call them
rogues and vagabonds." This testimo-
ny to the skill of Egyptian wizards be-
comes yet more striking when We OBJ
serve that Origen says not a word in
/ contradiction of it in his careful reply.
/ The descent from magic to witchcraft
in Europe can be traced in the Sagas Of
the North. Doubtless the Scandinavian
peoples represent the latest ernigrants
from the East; whether the Aryan the
ory be sound or not, they at least in
dubftably came from Asia. and not so
very long ago. Odin himself taught his
| people magic. fine poem shows the
neophyte hanging on a windy tree nine
nights without food or drink; then he
| peers down at midnight" learns the
/ magic runes, { weeping and falls. His
/ education is complete. Compare this
! with the obscene and trumpery rites
/ whereby witch was initiated. We
may fancy that the runes thus discern
! ed, which gave a man eighteen varie-
/ ties of supernatural power, expressed
the true name of Odin, but that is
! supposition. It is clear that writing
( itself, runes, was accounted form of
magic in the early days; afterwards
! the virtue was impaired to it by certain
ceremonies or perhaps forms of letters,
which are nowhere defined, though al
/ lusions occur continually. Odin also
taught magic songs which cured
wounds and sickness, quenched fire and
| stnled the winds, called up the dead
and won the love Of women.
While the Oriental imagination still
/ held sway, steadied perhaps and con-
| centrated by the bitter Northern life,
| the magic incidents which abound in
/ early sages bear a weight of horror
rightly called tremendous. Very seldom
is the art used for good or amusing
purposes, though such are found. And
! the Skald has not much to say when he
/ deals with the magic which compeds
! love But his somber fancy is reused
/ to the utmost in telling how heroes died
under a spell, how corpses rose TO hor-
rid life and men fought with demons.
| There are no pictures of the sort else
! where that approach those in the Sagas.
But if the effect be analyzed it proves to
| lie in the matter-of-fact simplicity of
| the narrative. When we attempt
story of supernatural horror we think
| if necessary to use words of vague but
| terrible significance TO pile up adjec-
/ tives, and to rouse sympathetic terror
/ by representing that all actors in the
| scene are frightened to death. The
| Northern poet followed just the other
| course. He describes the awful event
without an adjective, much more a
| shudder. You feel that he was present,
/ and that he is telling things he saw
I s-s I1a