Sec a. Paphos. 77
that the Roman was "under the influence of" the false prophet. Either we must say that the author scatters his words heedlessly on the page, or we must understand that these words of praise coming at that precise point exclude any idea of weak submission to the strong personality of the Magian. Moreover the Greek words express the simple fact that the Magian was one of the train of comites who always accompanied a Roman governor. Some of these were personal friends who came with him from Rome, others were young Romans of rank who thus gained an insight into administrative life (which as yet they were too young to enter on), others were in official attendance on the governor, and others were provincials, men of letters or of scientific knowledge or of tastes and habits that rendered them agreeable or useful to the great man.
There is also no reason to think that the Magian was an inmate of the proconsul's house. The words do not imply that ; and the facts in no way suggest it.
3. THE MAGIAN AND THE APOSTLE. To US the Roman governor is the prominent figure in this scene ; and his attitude towards the new teaching is what interests us most. But in the estimation of Luke, the Magian is the most important character, next to Paul ; and therefore the reader's attention is directed first upon him. His prominence is perhaps due to different estimate of historical importance : ancient views on this subject differ from modern. But is it not more probable that Luke is justified in his view? It is clear that the Magian was here the representative of a system and a religion ; and that his discomfiture was in itself a wide-reaching triumph. He is commonly said to be a magician, a mere " Jewish impostor" 3
yS Journey of Barnabas and Saul. Chap. IV.
and he is compared to the modern gipsy teller of fortunes. Such comparisons, while having a certain element of truth, are misleading, and give a false idea of the influence exerted on the Roman world by Oriental personages like this Magian. The Magian represented in his single personality both the modern fortune-teller and the modern man of science ; and he had a religious as well as a merely superstitious aspect to the outer world.
No strict line could then be drawn between lawful honourable scrutinising of the secret powers of Nature and illicit attempts to pry into them for selfish ends, between science and magic, between chemistry and alchemy, between astronomy and astrology. The two sides of investigation passed by hardly perceptible degrees into one another : and the same man might be by times a magician, by times the forerunner of Newton and Thomson (Lord Kelvin). It was not possible in the infancy of knowledge to know where lay the bounds between the possible and the impossible, between the search for the philosopher's stone or the elixir of life and the investigation of the properties of argon or the laws of biology. It was not possible then : he would be rash who would say that it is possible now. A writer may venture on many prophecies about the future of science to- day, for which he would have been ridiculed as an impostor or a dreamer twenty years ago ; and doubtless there are things he must not say now, which will be said soon.
It is certain that the priests of some Eastern religions possessed very considerable knowledge of the powers and processes of nature ; and that they were able to do things that either were, or seemed to be, marvellous. Which of these alternatives was true is a point on which individual judgments will vary widely ; but my own experience
Sec 3. The Magian and the Apostle. 79
makes me believe that, so far as influence over human or animal nature and life was concerned, their powers were wonderful. It is natural that the Magian's knowledge and powers should have made him a striking and interesting personality ; and a person like the proconsul, keenly inter- ested in nature and philosophy, would enjoy his society.