Jerome, Saint, Commentariorum In Danielem Prophetam Liber Unus

(Vers. 2,) « Praecepit ergo rex, ut convocarentur arioli, et magi, et malefici, et Chaldaei, ut indica- rent regi somnia sua. Qui cum venissent, stete- runt coram rege. » Quos nos hariolos, caeteri έπιοι- 6ους interpretati sunt, id est, incantatores. Ergo videntur mihi incantatores esse, qni verbis rem peragunt. Magi, qui de singulis 1 philosophantur : malefici, qui sanguine utuntur et victimis, et saepe contingunt corpora mortuorum. Porro in Chaldaeis γβνεθλιαλδγους [Al. γενεΟλ'.ολόγου;] significari puto quos vulgus mathematicos vocat. Consuetudo au- tem et sermo communis magos pro maleficis 2 ac- cipit : qui aliter habentur apud gentem suam, eo quod sint philosophi Chaldaeorum, et ad artis hujus scientiam reges quoque et principes ejusdem gentis omnia faciunt. Unde et in nativitate Domini Salvatoris ipsi primum ortum ejus intellexerant, et venientes in sanctam Bethleem, adoraverunt puerum, stella desuper ostendente (Matth. II).

(Verse 2) 'So the king commanded that the soothsayers and the magi and the sorcerers and the Chaldeans be called together, to tell the king his dreams. And when they had come, they stood before the king.' Those whom we [call] soothsayers (harioli), the others translated as epaoidoi, that is, enchanters. So enchanters seem to me to be those who accomplish their business with words; magi, those who philosophise about individual things; sorcerers (malefici), those who use blood and victims and often touch the bodies of the dead. Further, by 'Chaldeans' I think are meant genethlialogoi [casters of nativities], whom the common people call mathematici [astrologers]. But custom and common speech take magi to mean sorcerers; among their own people, however, they are regarded otherwise, because they are the philosophers of the Chaldeans, and the kings and princes of that nation do everything according to the knowledge of this art. Hence too at the birth of the Lord the Saviour they were the first to understand his rising, and coming to holy Bethlehem they worshipped the child, the star showing [the way] from above (Matt. 2).