impossible to persuade them to ignore in their suspicion of each other the images
fashioned out of wax that they saw at their doors, at crossroads, and on the tombs of
their ancestors (932e1–933c2). The Athenian Stranger falls a good deal short
of declaring outright that all magic is a fraud. He does say that arriving at an
understanding of the nature of such matters is far from easy and, further, that it is
not easy, if one knows oneself, to persuade others of the truth (933a5–7). The
Athenian Stranger may be inclined to discount the effectiveness of the magical
machinations (manganeia), incantations (epaoidai), and bindings (katadeseis)of
most men on the grounds that they have no idea what they are doing (933c4–5),
but he takes quite another view of the magic performed by seers (manteis) and
interpreters of prodigies (teratoskopoi): the penalty that he imposes on such persons,
if they engage in magic, is the same as that which he lays down for doctors who
practice poisoning: death (933c4–e2); the penalty for persons who are not doctors or
seers is to be left to the discretion of the court (933d5–e5). Plato in theLawsdoes not
explain in what sense seers may be said to have an understanding of magical practices.
For enlightenment it is necessary to turn to another dialogue, theSymposium, where
there is a disquisition, put into the mouth of the prophetess Diotima, on the
mediating role played by demons between gods and men (202e1–203a2): seers
(manteis) and priests use demons as their agents in their communications with the
gods in the matter of sacrifices, rites of initiation, incantations (epaoidai), and all
manner of magic-working (manganeia) and sorcery (goe ̄teia). The conclusion to be
drawn is that Plato believed in the efficacy of magical rituals and that he attributed the
powers such rituals had to demons.
Plato’s successors continued to believe in the reality of magic to the end of
antiquity and beyond. The followers of Epicurus, on the other hand, thought
magic a complete and utter fraud; some of them even went out of their way to expose
the tricks in which magicians engaged. Whether the founder of the school, who lived
at the end of the fourth century BC, was of the same persuasion the evidence does not
allow us to decide. It is very difficult to assess the degree to which magic had a hold
on the minds of men in the classical and hellenistic Greek worlds. The testimony of
Plato’s Athenian Stranger would suggest that most men were afraid of magic. On
balance, it would probably be wise to believe him.
What Did Ancient Magicians Do?
The impression left by much modern work on Greek and Roman magic is that magic-
working in classical antiquity consisted principally in the casting of spells intended to
affect the behavior or the fortunes of the person at whom the spell was directed. We
are told about spells designed to win the sexual favors of both men and women as well
as spells aimed at impeding the sexual pleasure of rivals; we can read about spells
meant to harm enemies, spells that left the other party to a law-suit speechless, and
spells whose purpose it was to influence the result of chariot races. But we do not hear
much about what springs to the minds of most people, when they hear the word
‘‘magic’’ mentioned, which is conjuring tricks and illusions; in other words, the
stock-in-trade of the modern stage magician. Yet the creation of illusions and won-
ders is as much a part of Greek and Roman magic as is the casting of spells intended to
Magic in Classical and Hellenistic Greece 361