: so _Agathias_; _The _Persians_ at
this day say simply that _Zoroastres_ lived under _Hystaspes__: and
_Apuleius_; _Pythagoram, aiunt, inter captivos Cambysae Regis _[ex AEgypto
Babylonem abductos]_ doctores habuisse Persarum Magos, & praecipue
Zoroastrem, omnis divini arcani Antistitem_. By _Zoroastres_'s conversing
at _Babylon_ he seems to have borrowed his skill from the _Chaldaeans_; for
he was skilled in Astronomy, and used their year: so _Q. Curtius_; [481]
_Magi proximi patrium carmen canebant: Magos trecenti & sexaginta quinque
juvenes sequebantur, puniceis amiculis velati, diebus totius anni pares
numero_: and _Ammianus_; _Scientiae multa ex Chaldaeorum arcanis Bactrianus
addidit Zoroastres_. From his conversing in several places he is reckoned a
_Chaldaean_, an _Assyrian_, a _Mede_, a _Persian_, a _Bactrian_. _Suidas_
calls him [482] a _Perso-Mede_, and saith that he was _the most skilful of
Astronomers, and first author of the name of the _Magi_ received among
them_. This skill in Astronomy he had doubtless from the _Chaldaeans_, but
_Hystaspes_ travelled into _India_, to be instructed by the
_Gymnosophists_: and these two conjoyning their skill and authority,
instituted a new set of Priests or _Magi_, and instructed them in such
ceremonies and mysteries of Religion and Philosophy as they thought fit to
establish for the Religion and Philosophy of that Empire; and these
instructed others, 'till from a small number they grew to a great
multitude: for _Suidas_ tells us, that _Zoroastres gave a beginning to the
name of the _Magi__: and _Elmacinus_; that _he reformed the religion of the
_Persians_, which before was divided into many sects_: and _Agathias_; that
_he introduced the religion of the _Magi_ among the _Persians_, changing
their ancient sacred rites, and bringing in several opinions_: and
_Ammianus_ [483] tells us, _Magiam esse divinorum incorruptissimum cultum,
cujus scientiae seculis priscis multa ex Chaldaeorum arcanis Bactrianus
addidit Zoroastres: deinde Hystaspes Rex prudentissimus Darii pater; qui
quum superioris Indiae secreta fidentius penetraret, ad nemorosam quamdam
venerat solitudinem, cujus tranquillis silentiis praecelsa Brachmanorum
ingenia potiuntur; eorumque monitu rationes mundani motus & siderum,
purosque sacrorum ritus quantum colligere potuit eruditus, ex his quae
didicit, aliqua sensibus Magorum infudit; quae illi cum disciplinis
praesentiendi futura, per suam quisque progeniem, post