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Aristotle's Lost Book On Magic

This illustration is from the Clavis Artis, a German alchemical text attributed to Zoroaster. Clavis Artis, Ms-2-27, Biblioteca Civica Hortis, Trieste, vol. 2, pag. 182. On the manuscript and its provenance, see the Italian wiki. Image from wikimedia commons

Here are all of V. Rose's testimonia of a work attributed to Aristotle called Magic (ὁ Μαγικός λόγος, or τὸ μαγικόν?). The title either refers to the art practised by the Magi (the Zoroastrian priests from Persia), or it refers to the fact that the discussion is a discussion about the Magi. The latter seems more likely, even though the first passage, from Diogenes Laertius, suggests the discussion mentioned all sorts of wisdom cults.

The attribution is disputed. Diogenes Laertius says it is by Aristotle, but doesn't put it in his list of Aristotle's works (it doesn't show up in any other list I've looked at in either Greek or Arabic). The Suda says it is by Antisthenes, and that some people attributed it to Aristotle or someone named Rhodon. It's not clear where the Suda is getting this from.

While we don't know who wrote it, its contents are hinted at by the testimonies gathered in Rose (+ a few others I've put together). Diogenes reports that Aristotle thought magic wasn't sorcery, but philosophy or wisdom. This is confirmed by the Suda. It has something to do with prognostication. Eudoxus, according to Pliny, believed it was useful and very valuable, and so it was not only practical but connected to more valuable objects of study, probably the heavenly bodies. This is especially supported by the etymology of Zoroaster ('star-diviner') reported by Diogenes, and Porphyry's etymology of 'magus' as 'wise in divine matters'. Philo specifies that it was a kind of 'optics' and a very precise branch of natural science. Finally, Philo, Porphyry and the Suda associate it with both wisdom and with kingship. Philo says not only private citizens practice magic, but that Persian kings themselves had to be educated as Magi to become king.

It seems to me as if all these testimonies could be referring to a discussion of wise philosopher kings who are able to predict the future through their understanding of the heavens and the science of nature.


"Some say the work of philosophy originated with the barbarians. For among the Persians are the Magi, among the Babylonians and Assyrians the Chaldeans, among the Indians the Gymnosophists (lit. naked philosophers), and among the Celts and Gauls, those called 'Druids' and holy people, according to what Aristotle says in the book on Magic and Sotion in the twenty-third book of the Succession of Philosophers."

Τὸ τῆς φιλοσοφίας ἔργον ἔνιοί φασιν ἀπὸ βαρβάρων ἄρξαι. γεγενῆσθαι γὰρ παρὰ μὲν Πέρσαις μάγους, παρὰ δὲ Βαβυλωνίοις ἢ Ἀσσυρίοις Χαλδαίους, καὶ γυμνοσοφιστὰς παρ' Ἰνδοῖς, παρά τε Κελτοῖς καὶ Γαλάταις τοὺς καλουμένους δρυίδας καὶ σεμνοθέους, καθά φησιν Ἀριστοτέλης ἐν τῷ μαγικῷ καὶ Σωτίων ἐν εἰκοστῷ τρίτῳ τῆς διαδοχῆς.

Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, 1.1

"The Magi were ignorant of sorcerers' magic, says Aristotle in the book on Magic and Dinon in the fifth book of his Histories. He also says 'Zoroaster' when translated literally means 'star-diviner'; Hermodorus says this as well. In the first book of On Philosophy, Aristotle says they (the Magi) are actually older than the Egyptians. And according to them there are two principles, a good daimon and a bad daimon: to the former, the name is Zeus and 'Oromasdes' [i.e., Ahura Mazda], to the other Hades and 'Arimanius' [i.e., Ahriman]. Hermippus says this too in the first book On Magi, so does Eudoxus in the Survey, and Theopompus in the eighth book of the Philippics."

Τὴν δὲ γοητικὴν μαγείαν [sc. οἱ Μάγοι] οὐδ' ἔγνωσαν, φησὶν Ἀριστοτέλης ἐν τῷ Μαγικῷ καὶ Δείνων ἐν τῇ πέμπτῃ τῶν Ἱστοριῶν· ὃς καὶ μεθερμηνευόμενόν φησι τὸν Ζωροάστρην ἀστροθύτην εἶναι· φησὶ δὲ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Ἑρμόδωρος. Ἀριστοτέλης δ' ἐν πρώτῳ Περὶ φιλοσοφίας καὶ πρεσβυτέρους εἶναι τῶν Αἰγυπτίων· καὶ δύο κατ' αὐτοὺς εἶναι ἀρχάς, ἀγαθὸν δαίμονα καὶ κακὸν δαίμονα· καὶ τῷ μὲν ὄνομα εἶναι Ζεὺς καὶ Ὠρομάσδης, τῷ δὲ Ἅιδης καὶ Ἀρειμάνιος. φησὶ δὲ τοῦτο καὶ Ἕρμιππος ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ Περὶ μάγων καὶ Εὔδοξος ἐν τῇ Περιόδῳ καὶ Θεόπομπος ἐν τῇ ὀγδόῃ τῶν Φιλιππικῶν.

Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, 1.7-8

"Aristotle says that a certain magus [magician or priest from Persia] came from Syria to Athens and among the other things he predicted about Socrates, was that he will have a violent end."

φησὶ δ' Ἀριστοτέλης μάγον τινὰ ἐλθόντα ἐκ Συρίας εἰς Ἀθήνας τά τε ἄλλα καταγνῶναι τοῦ Σωκράτους καὶ δὴ καὶ βίαιον ἔσεσθαι τὴν τελευτὴν αὐτῷ.

Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, 2.45

"Eudoxus, who wanted it to be known that among the schools of philosophy, magic is the most illustrious and most useful, relates that this 'Zoroaster' lived six thousand years before Plato's death. Aristotle says this too."

Eudoxus qui inter sapientiae sectas clarissimam utilissimamque eam (magicam) intellegi voluit, Zoroastren hunc sex milibus annorum ante Platonis mortem fuisse prodidit. sic et Aristoteles.

Pliny, Natural History, 30.3

"Antisthenes, an Athenian, Socratic philosopher from among the orators, who first was called a Peripatetic, then 'played the dog' (i.e., acted like someone from what would later be called the 'Cynic' school). He was the son of a father with the same name, and his mother came from the people of Thrace. He wrote these ten volumes: first, Magic: it tells about a certain magus, Zoroaster, who discovered wisdom. Some people attribute this to Aristotle, others to Rhodon."

Ἀντισθένης, Ἀθηναῖος, ἀπὸ ῥητόρων φιλόσοφος Σωκρατικός, ὅστις Περιπατητικὸς ἐκλήθη πρῶτον, εἶτα ἐκύνισεν: υἱὸς δὲ ὢν ὁμωνύμου πατρὸς, μητρὸς δὲ τὸ γένος Θρᾴσσης. οὗτος συνέγραψε τόμους δέκα: πρῶτον μαγικόν: ἀφηγεῖται δὲ περὶ Ζωροάστρου τινὸς μάγου, εὑρόντος τὴν σοφίαν: τοῦτο δέ τινες Ἀριστοτέλει, οἱ δὲ Ῥόδωνι ἀνατιθέασιν.

Suda, s.v. Ἀντισθένης

"Execestus, the Phocian tyrant, used to wear two enchanted rings, and he used to determine the appropriate time to act by the sound they made against one another. But, he still died, murdered by treachery despite being warned by the sound, as Aristotle says in the Phocian Constitution."

Ἐξήκεστός τε ὁ Φωκαιέων τύραννος δύο δακτυλίους φορῶν γεγοητευμένους τῷ ψόφῳ τῷ πρὸς ἀλλήλους διῃσθάνετο τοὺς καιροὺς τῶν πράξεων, ἀπέθανεν δὲ ὅμως δολοφονηθεὶς καίτοι προσημήναντος τοῦ ψόφου, ὥς φησιν Ἀριστοτέλης ἐν τῇ Φωκαιέων πολιτείᾳ.

Clement of Alexandria, Stromateus I, chapter 21

"The true art of magic, which is a science of optics by which the works of nature are illuminated with a brighter appearance and is thought to be holy and highly prized, is not only practiced by private citizens, but also by kings and of kings the greatest, and most of all the Persian kings, to the extent that they say no one among them is able to be a successor to the kingship if he does not happen to share in the house of the Magi."

τὴν μὲν οὖν ἀληθῆ μαγικήν, ὀπτικὴν ἐπιστήμην οὖσαν, ᾗ τὰ τῆς φύσεως ἔργα τρανοτέραις φαντασίαις αὐγάζεται, σεμνὴν καὶ περιμάχητον δοκοῦσαν εἶναι, οὐκ ἰδιῶται μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ βασιλεῖς καὶ βασιλέων οἱ μέγιστοι καὶ μάλιστα οἱ Περσῶν διαπονοῦσιν οὕτως, ὥστ' οὐδένα φασὶν ἐπὶ βασιλείαν δύνασθαι παραπεμφθῆναι παρ' αὐτοῖς, εἰ μὴ πρότερον τοῦ μάγων γένους κεκοινωνηκὼς τυγχάνοι.

Philo of Judaea, On Special Laws, 3.100

"Among the Persians, those who are wise in divine matters and worship it are called 'Magi'. This is just what 'Magus' means in the regional language. This house is considered to be so great and so holy by the Persians, that even Darius, son of Hystaspes, had engraved on his tombstone (among other things) that he was a teacher of magic arts."

παρά γε μὴν τοῖς Πέρσαις οἱ περὶ τὸ θεῖον σοφοὶ καὶ τούτου θεράποντες μάγοι μὲν προσαγορεύονται· τοῦτο γὰρ δηλοῖ κατὰ τὴν ἐπιχώριον διάλεκτον ὁ μάγος· οὕτω δὲ μέγα καὶ σεβάσμιον γένος τοῦτο παρὰ Πέρσαις νενόμισται, ὥστε καὶ Δαρεῖον τὸν Ὑστάσπου ἐπιγράψαι τῷ μνήματι πρὸς τοῖς ἄλλοις ὅτι καὶ μαγικῶν γένοιτο διδάσκαλος.

Porphyry, On Abstinence from Animal Food, 4.16

"Don't make drugs. Stay away from magic books."

Φάρμακα μὴ τεύχειν, μαγικῶν βίβλων ἀπέχεσθαι.

Pseudo-Phocylides, Sententiae, l.149

Illustration of (a somewhat Christian?) Zoroaster riding the back of a dragon. Zoroaster was associated with the arts of magic and astrology already in antiquity. This illustration is from the Clavis Artis, vol. 1, the Biblioteca dell’Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Roma. On the manuscript and its provenance, see the Italian wiki. Image source here.