Ekaterina's Sharebook 

Empedocles too has ascribed to him marvelous powers associated with later magicians. This guy was definitely touched by gods, if you know what I mean. In ancient Greek stories we learn that is, he is able to heal the sick, rejuvenate the old, to influence the weather and summon the dead. Empedocles was a combination of poet, magus, teacher, and scientist. Since much of the acquired knowledge of individuals like Pythagoras or Empedocles was somewhat mysterious even to those with a rudimentary educations, so such might be associated with magic or at least with the learning of a Magus.

After Empedocles, the scale of magical gifts in exceptional individuals shrinks in the literature. Individuals might have the gift of healing, or the gift of prophecy, but are not usually credited with a wide range of supernatural powers that Orpheus, Pythagoras and Empedocles have. Plato even tells us that he takes healers, prophets and sorcerers for granted. He mentions that these practitioners existed in Athens, and they had to be reckoned with and controlled by laws, but one should not be afraid of them, their powers are real, but they themselves represent a rather low order of humanity.