Jer. V, 81 ; Dan. ii, 2), who in all nations made it sub- servient to their own purposes. Thus in Persia, Char- din says that the astrologers would make even the shah rise at midnight and travel in the worst weather in obedience to their suggestions. See Astrologer.
The invention of divination is ascribed to Prome- theus (iEschylus, Pr. Vinct. 492), to the Phrygians and Etrurians, especially sages (Cicero, De Div. 1 ; and Clem. Alex. Strom, i, 826, where there is a great deal more on the subject), or (as by the f&thers generally) to the devil (Firmic. Matemus, De Errore, Prooem ; Lactant. ii, 16; Minuc. Felix. Oct. 27). In the same way Zoroaster ascribes all magic to Ahriman (Nork, Bram. und Bab. p. 97). Similar opinions have pre- vaQed in modem times (Sir Thomas Browne, Vulyar Errors, i, 11). See Maoic.
Egypt, the cradle of arts and sciences, if she did not give it birth, seems to have encouraged the practice of divination at an early age; and, whether any of its forms had become objects of popular superstition, or were resorted to for the purposes of gain in the days of Joseph, it is well known that at the time of the He- brew Exodus there were magicians in that country whose knowledge of the arcana of nature, and whose dexterity in the practice of their art, enabled them, to a certain extent, to equal the miracles of Moses. By what extraordinary powers they achieved those feats, how they changed their rods into serpents, the river water into blood, and introduced frogs in unprecedent- ed numbers, is an inquiiy that has occasioned great perplexity to many men of learning and piety. See Jaknes (and Jambres).
It is reasonable to suppose that as Moses never had been in any other civilized country, all the allusions contained in his writings to the various forms of divi- nation were those which were practised in Egypt ; and, indeed, so strong a taste had his countrymen imbibed there for this species of superstition, that throu^out the whole course of their history it seems to htf ve in- fected the national character and habits. Nor was it confined to the vicinityof Palestine, for as early as the time of Balaam (q. v.) we find it practised by profes- sional characters to the very banks of the Euphrates (Num. xxii, 5, 7 ; see Biederraann, De mercede dimni- toria, Vitemb. 1717). The diviners, who abounded both amongst the aborigines of Canaan and their Phi^ listine neighbors (Isa. ii, 6), proved a great snare to the Israelites after their settlement in the promised land ; and yet, notwithstanding the stem prohibitions of the law, no vigorous efibrts were made to put an end to the crime by extirpating the practitioners of the unhallowed art until the da^'S of Saul, who him- self, however, violated the statute on the night pre- vious to his disastrous fisill (1 Sam. xxviii). But it was Chaldsa to which the distinction belongs of be- ing the mother-country of diviners. See Chaldaan. Such a degree of power and influence had they attain- ed in that country, that they formed the highest caste and enjoyed a place at court; nay, so indispensable were they in Chaldaean society, that no step could be taken, not a relation could be formed, a house built, a Joumey undertaken, a campaign begun, until the diviners had ascertained the lucky 'day and promised a happy issue. A great influx of these impostors had at various times poured from Chaldiea and Arabia into the land of Israel to pursue their gainful occupation, more especially during the reign of the later kings (Isa. viii, 19), and we find Manasseh not only their liberal patron, but zealous to appear as one of their most expert accomplices (2 Kings zxi, 6; 2 Chron. xxxiii, 6). The long captivity in Babylon spread more widely than ever among the Jews a devoted at- tachment to this superstition ; for after their retum to their own country, having entirely renounced idolatry, and, at the same time, no longer enjoying the gift of prophecy or access to the sacred oracles, they gradu- ally abandoned themselves, as Lightfbot has satisfoc-
DIVINATION
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DIVINATION
torily shown, before the advent of Christ, to all the prevailing forms of divination {Comment, on McUi.). See Exorcism.
Superstition not unfreqaently goes hand in hand -with scepticism, and hence, amid the general infidelity prevalent through the Soman empire at our Lord's coming, imposture was rampant, as a glance at the pages of Tacitus will suffice to prove. Hence the lu- crative trades of such men as Simon Magus (Acts viii, 9), Bar-jesus (Acts xiii, 6, 8), the slave with the spirit of Python (Acts xvi, 16), the vagabond Jews, exorcists (Luke xi, 19 ; Acts xix, 13), and other mountebanks (yoiyrcf, 2 Tim. iii, 13 ; Rev. xix, 20, etc.), as well as the notorioos dealers in magical writings ('E^iaia ypafjifiaTo), and the jugglers (irfpiepya) at Ephesus (Acts xix, 19). Among the Jews these flagrant im- postors {dxariCJviSt Josephus) had become dangerous- ly numerous, especially during the Jewish war; and we find them constantly alluded to in Josephus (H^or, vi, 5, 1, 2 ; comp. Matt, xxiv, 23-24 ; Tacit. Hist, v, 12 ; Joseph. Ant. xx, 5, 1, etc.). As was natural, they, like most Orientals, especially connected the name of Solomon with their spells and incantations (Joseph. Ant. viii, 2). The names of the main writers on this wide and interesting subject will be found mentioned in the course of this article, and others are referred to in Fabricius, Bibl. Antiq. cap. xil, and Bdttcher, De /»- ferisj p. 101 sq. See Curious Arts.