Books: Lives of the Necromancers

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"Now was Sertorius very heauie, that no man could tell him what was
become of his white hind: for thereby all his subtilltie and finenesse
to keepe the barbarous people in obedience was taken away, and then
specially when they stood in need of most comfort. But by good hap,
certaine of his souldiers that had lost themselves in the night, met
with the hind in their way, and knowing her by her colour, tooke her
and brought her backe againe. Sertorius hearing of her, promised them
a good reward, so that they would tell no liuing creature that they
brought her againe, and thereupon made her to be secretly kept. Then
within a few dayes after, he came abroad among them, and with a
pleasant countenance told the noble men and chiefe captaines of these
barbarous people, how the Gods had reuealed it to him in his dreame,
that he should shortly have a maruellous good thing happen to him: and
with these words sate downe in his chaire to give audience. Whereupon
they that kept the hind not farre from thence, did secretly let her go.
The hind being loose, when she had spied Sertorius, ranne straight to
his chaire with great joy, and put her head betwixt his legges, and
layed her mouth in his right hand, as she before was wont to do.
Sertorius also made very much of her, and of purpose appeared
maruellous glad, shewing such tender affection to the hind, as it
seemed the water stood in his eyes for joy. The barbarous people that
stood there by and beheld the same, at the first were much amazed
therewith, but afterwards when they had better bethought themselues,
for ioy they clapped their hands together, and waited upon Sertorius
to his lodging with great and ioyfull shouts, saying, and steadfastly
beleeuing, that he he was a heavenly creature, and beloued of the
Gods." [117]

CASTING OUT DEVILS.

We are now brought down to the era of the Christian religion; and
there is repeated mention of sorcery in the books of the New Testament.

One of the most frequent miracles recorded of Jesus Christ is called
the "casting out devils." The Pharisees in the Evangelist, for the
purpose of depreciating this evidence of his divine mission, are
recorded to have said, "this fellow doth not cast out devils, but by
Beelzebub, the prince of devils." Jesus, among other remarks in
refutation of this opprobrium, rejoins upon them, "If I by Beelzebub
cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out?" [118] Here
then we have a plain insinuation of sorcery from the lips of Christ
himself, at the same time that he appears to admit that his
adversaries produced supernatural achievements similar to his own.

SIMON MAGUS.

But the most remarkable passage in the New Testament on the subject of
sorcery, is one which describes the proceedings of Simon Magus, as
follows.

"Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ
unto them. But there was a certain man, called Simon, which before
time in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of
Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one. To whom they all
gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the
great power of God. And to him they had regard, because that of long
time he had bewitched them with sorceries. But, when they believed
Philip, preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the
name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized both men and women. Then
Simon himself believed also. And, when he was baptized, he continued
with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were
done.

"Now, when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had
received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John. Who,
when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the
Holy Ghost. For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were
baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then laid they their hands on
them, and they received the Holy Ghost.

"And, when Simon saw that, through the laying on of the apostles'
hands, the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, saying, Give
me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands he may receive the
Holy Ghost. But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee!
because thou hast thought that the gift of God might be purchased with
money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is
not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness,
and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee:
for I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the
bond of iniquity. Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord
for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me."
[119]

This passage of the New Testament leaves us in considerable uncertainty
as to the nature of the sorceries, by which "of a long time Simon had
bewitched the people of Samaria." But the fathers of the church,
Clemens Romanus and Anastasius Sinaita, have presented us with a
detail of the wonders he actually performed. When and to whom he
pleased he made himself invisible; he created a man out of air; he
passed through rocks and mountains without encountering an obstacle;
he threw himself from a precipice uninjured; he flew along in the air;
he flung himself in the fire without being burned. Bolts and chains
were impotent to detain him. He animated statues, so that they
appeared to every beholder to be men and women; he made all the
furniture of the house and the table to change places as required,
without a visible mover; he metamorphosed his countenance and visage
into that of another person; he could make himself into a sheep, or a
goat, or a serpent; he walked through the streets attended with a
multitude of strange figures, which he affirmed to be the souls of the
departed; he made trees and branches of trees suddenly to spring up
where he pleased; he set up and deposed kings at will; he caused a
sickle to go into a field of corn, which unassisted would mow twice as
fast as the most industrious reaper. [120]

Thus endowed, it is difficult to imagine what he thought he would have
gained by purchasing from the apostles their gift of working miracles.
But Clemens Romanus informs us that he complained that, in his
sorceries, he was obliged to employ tedious ceremonies and
incantations; whereas the apostles appeared to effect their wonders
without difficulty and effort, by barely speaking a word. [121]

ELYMAS, THE SORCERER.

But Simon Magus is not the only magician spoken of in the New
Testament. When the apostle Paul came to Paphos in the isle of Cyprus,
he found the Roman governor divided in his preference between Paul and
Elymas, the sorcerer, who before the governor withstood Paul to his
face. Then Paul, prompted by his indignation, said, "Oh, full of all
subtlety and mischief, child of the devil, enemy of all righteousness,
wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now,
behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind,
not seeing the sun for a season." What wonders Elymas effected to
deceive the Roman governor we are not told: but "immediately there
fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about, seeking some to
lead him by the hand." [122]

In another instance we find certain vagabond Jews, exorcists, who
pretended to cast out devils from the possessed. But they came to the
apostle, and "confessed, and shewed their deeds. Many of them also
which used curious arts, brought their books together, and burned them
before all. And they counted the price of them, and found it fifty
thousand pieces of silver." [123]

It is easy to see however on which side the victory lay. The apostles
by their devotion and the integrity of their proceedings triumphed;
while those whose only motive was selfishness, the applause of the
vulgar, or the admiration of the superficial, gained the honours of a
day, and were then swept away into the gulf of general oblivion.

NERO.

The arts of the magician are said to have been called into action by
Nero upon occasion of the assassination of his mother, Agrippina. He
was visited with occasional fits of the deepest remorse in the
recollection of his enormity. Notwithstanding all the ostentatious
applauses and congratulations which he obtained from the senate, the
army and the people, he complained that he was perpetually haunted
with the ghost of his mother, and pursued by the furies with flaming
torches and whips. He therefore caused himself to be attended by
magicians, who employed their arts to conjure up the shade of
Agrippina, and to endeavour to obtain her forgiveness for the crime
perpetrated by her son. [124] We are not informed of the success of
their evocations.

VESPASIAN.

In the reign of Vespasian we meet with a remarkable record of
supernatural power, though it does not strictly fall under the head of
magic. It is related by both Tacitus and Suetonius. Vespasian having
taken up his abode for some months at Alexandria, a blind man, of the
common people, came to him, earnestly intreating the emperor to assist
in curing his infirmity, alleging that he was prompted to apply by the
admonition of the God Serapis, and importuning the prince to anoint
his cheeks and the balls of his eyes with the royal spittle. Vespasian
at first treated the supplication with disdain; but at length, moved
by the fervour of the petitioner, inforced as it was by the flattery
of his courtiers, the emperor began to think that every thing would
give way to his prosperous fortune, and yielded to the poor man's
desire. With a confident carriage therefore, the multitude of those
who stood by being full of expectation, he did as he was requested,
and the desired success immediately followed. Another supplicant
appeared at the same time, who had lost the use of his hands, and
intreated Vespasian to touch the diseased members with his foot; and
he also was cured.[125]

Hume has remarked that many circumstances contribute to give
authenticity to this miracle, "if," as he says, "any evidence could
avail to establish so palpable a falsehood. The gravity, solidity, age
and probity of so great an emperor, who, through the whole course of
his life, conversed in a familiar manner with his friends and
courtiers, and never affected any airs of divinity: the historian, a
contemporary writer, noted for candour and veracity, and perhaps the
greatest and most penetrating genius of all antiquity: and lastly, the
persons from whose authority he related the miracle, who we may
presume to have been of established character for judgment and honour;
eye-witnesses of the fact, and confirming their testimony, as Tacitus
goes on to say, after the Flavian family ceased to be in power, and
could no longer give any reward as the price of a lie." [126]

APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.

Apollonius of Tyana in Asia Minor was born nearly at the same time as
Jesus Christ, and acquired great reputation while he lived, and for a
considerable time after. He was born of wealthy parents, and seems
early to have betrayed a passion for philosophy. His father,
perceiving this, placed him at fourteen years of age under Euthydemus,
a rhetorician of Tarsus; but the youth speedily became dissatisfied
with the indolence and luxury of the citizens, and removed himself to
Aegas, a neighbouring town, where was a temple of Aesculapius, and where
the God was supposed sometimes to appear in person. Here he became
professedly a disciple of the sect of Pythagoras. He refrained from
animal food, and subsisted entirely on fruits and herbs. He went
barefoot, and wore no article of clothing made from the skins of
animals. [127] He further imposed on himself a noviciate of five years
silence. At the death of his father, he divided his patrimony equally
with his brother; and, that brother having wasted his estate by
prodigality, he again made an equal division with him of what
remained. [128] He travelled to Babylon and Susa in pursuit of
knowledge, and even among the Brachmans of India, and appears
particularly to have addicted himself to the study of magic. [129] He
was of a beautiful countenance and a commanding figure, and, by means
of these things, combined with great knowledge, a composed and
striking carriage, and much natural eloquence, appears to have won
universal favour wherever he went. He is said to have professed the
understanding of all languages without learning them, to read the
thoughts of men, and to be able to interpret the language of animals.
A power of working miracles attended him in all places. [130]

On one occasion he announced to the people of Ephesus the approach of
a terrible pestilence; but the citizens paid no attention to his
prophecy. The calamity however having overtaken them, they sent to
Apollonius who was then at Smyrna, to implore his assistance. He
obeyed the summons. Having assembled the inhabitants, there was seen
among them a poor, old and decrepid beggar, clothed in rags, hideous
of visage, and with a peculiarly fearful and tremendous expression in
his eyes. Apollonius called out to the Ephesians, "This is an enemy to
the Gods; turn all your animosity against him, and stone him to death!"
The old man in the most piteous tones besought their mercy. The
citizens were shocked with the inhumanity of the prophet. Some however
of the more thoughtless flung a few stones, without any determined
purpose. The old man, who had stood hitherto crouching, and with his
eyes half-closed, now erected his figure, and cast on the crowd
glances, fearful, and indeed diabolical. The Ephesians understood at
once that this was the genius of the plague. They showered upon him
stones without mercy, so as not only to cover him, but to produce a
considerable mound where he had stood. After a time Apollonius
commanded them to take away the stones, that they might discover what
sort of an enemy they had destroyed. Instead of a man they now saw an
enormous black dog, of the size of a lion, and whose mouth and jaws
were covered with a thick envenomed froth. [131]

Another miracle was performed by Apollonius in favour of a young man,
named Menippus of Corinth, five and twenty years of age, for whom the
prophet entertained a singular favour. This man conceived himself to
be beloved by a rich and beautiful woman, who made advances to him,
and to whom he was on the point of being contracted in marriage.
Apollonius warned his young friend against the match in an enigmatical
way, telling him that he nursed a serpent in his bosom. This however
did not deter Menippus. All things were prepared; and the wedding
table was spread. Apollonius meanwhile came among them, and prevented
the calamity. He told the young man that the dishes before him, the
wine he was drinking, the vessels of gold and silver that appeared
around him, and the very guests themselves were unreal and illusory;
and to prove his words, he caused them immediately to vanish. The
bride alone was refractory. She prayed the philosopher not to torment
her, and not to compel her to confess what she was. He was however
inexorable. She at length owned that she was an empuse (a sort of
vampire), and that she had determined to cherish and pamper Menippus,
that she might in the conclusion eat his flesh, and lap up his blood.
[132]

One of the miracles of Apollonius consisted in raising the dead. A
young woman of beautiful person was laid out upon a bier, and was in
the act of being conveyed to the tomb. She was followed by a multitude
of friends, weeping and lamenting, and among others by a young man,
to whom she had been on the point to be married. Apollonius met the
procession, and commanded those who bore it, to set down the bier. He
exhorted the proposed bridegroom to dry up his tears. He enquired the
name of the deceased, and, saluting her accordingly, took hold of her
hand, and murmured over her certain mystical words. At this act the
maiden raised herself on her seat, and presently returned home, whole
and sound, to the house of her father. [133]

Towards the end of his life Apollonius was accused before Domitian of
having conspired with Nerva to put an end to the reign of the tyrant.
He appears to have proved that he was at another place, and therefore
could not have engaged in the conspiracy that was charged upon him.
Domitian publicly cleared him from the accusation, but at the same
time required him not to withdraw from Rome, till the emperor had
first had a private conference with him. To this requisition Apollonius
replied in the most spirited terms. "I thank your majesty," said he,
"for the justice you have rendered me. But I cannot submit to what you
require. How can I be secure from the false accusations of the
unprincipled informers who infest your court? It is by their means
that whole towns of your empire are unpeopled, that provinces are
involved in mourning and tears, your armies are in mutiny, your senate
full of suspicion and alarms, and the islands are crowded with exiles.
It is not for myself that I speak, my soul is invulnerable to your
enmity; and it is not given to you by the Gods to become master of my
body." And, having thus given utterance to the virtuous anguish of his
spirit, he suddenly became invisible in the midst of a full assembly,
and was immediately after seen at Puteoli in the neighbourhood of
Mount Vesuvius. [134]

Domitian pursued the prophet no further; and he passed shortly after
to Greece, to Ionia, and finally to Ephesus. He every where delivered
lectures as he went, and was attended with crowds of the most
distinguished auditors, and with the utmost popularity. At length at
Ephesus, when he was in the midst of an eloquent harangue, he suddenly
became silent. He seemed as if he saw a spectacle which engrossed all
his attention. His countenance expressed fervour and the most
determined purpose. He exclaimed, "Strike the tyrant; strike him!" and
immediately after, raising himself, and addressing the assembly, he
said, "Domitian is no more; the world is delivered of its bitterest
oppressor."--The next post brought the news that the emperor was
killed at Rome, exactly on the day and at the hour when Apollonius had
thus made known the event at Ephesus. [135]

Nerva succeeded Domitian, between whom and Apollonius there subsisted
the sincerest friendship. The prophet however did not long survive
this event. He was already nearly one hundred years old. But what is
most extraordinary, no one could tell precisely when or where he died.
No tomb bore the record of his memory; and his biographer inclines to
the opinion that he was taken up into heaven. [136]

Divine honours were paid to this philosopher, both during his life,
and after his death. The inhabitants of Tyana built a temple to him,
and his image was to be found in many other temples. [137] The emperor
Adrian collected his letters, and treated them as an invaluable relic.
Alexander Severus placed his statue in his oratory, together with
those of Jesus Christ, Abraham and Orpheus, to whom he was accustomed
daily to perform the ceremonies of religion. [138] Vopiscus, in his
Life of Aurelian, [139] relates that this emperor had determined to
rase the city of Tyana, but that Apollonius, whom he knew from his
statues, appeared to him, and said, "Aurelian, if you would conquer,
do not think of the destruction of my citizens: Aurelian, if you would
reign, abstain from the blood of the innocent: Aurelian, if you would
conquer, distinguish yourself by acts of clemency." It was at the
desire of Julia, the mother of Severus, that Philostratus composed the
life of Apollonius, to which he is now principally indebted for his
fame. [140]

The publicity of Apollonius and his miracles has become considerably
greater, from the circumstance of the early enemies of the Christian
religion having instituted a comparison between the miracles of Christ
and of this celebrated philosopher, for the obvious purpose of
undermining one of the most considerable evidences of the truth of
divine revelation. It was probably with an indirect view of this sort
that Philostratus was incited by the empress Julia to compose his life
of this philosopher; and Hierocles, a writer of the time of Dioclesian,
appears to have penned an express treatise in the way of a parallel
between the two, attempting to shew a decisive superiority in the
miracles of Apollonius.

APULEIUS.

Apuleius of Madaura in Africa, who lived in the time of the Antonines,
appears to have been more remarkable as an author, than for any thing
that occurs in the history of his life. St. Augustine and Lactantius
however have coupled him with Apollonius of Tyana, as one of those who
for their pretended miracles were brought into competition with the
author of the Christian religion. But this seems to have arisen from
their misapprehension respecting his principal work, the Golden Ass,
which is a romance detailing certain wonderful transformations, and
which they appear to have thought was intended as an actual history of
the life of the author.

The work however deserves to be cited in this place, as giving a
curious representation of the ideas which were then prevalent on the
subjects of magic and witchcraft. The author in the course of his
narrative says: "When the day began to dawn, I chanced to awake, and
became desirous to know and see some marvellous and strange things,
remembering that I was now in the midst of Thessaly, where, by the
common report of the world, sorceries and enchantments are most
frequent. I viewed the situation of the place in which I was; nor was
there any thing I saw, that I believed to be the same thing which it
appeared. Insomuch that the very stones in the street I thought were
men bewitched and turned into that figure, and the birds I heard
chirping, the trees without the walls, and the running waters, were
changed from human creatures into the appearances they wore. I
persuaded myself that the statues and buildings could move, that the
oxen and other brute beasts could speak and tell strange tidings, and
that I should see and hear oracles from heaven, conveyed on the beams
of the sun."

ALEXANDER THE PAPHLAGONIAN.

At the same time with Apuleius lived Alexander the Paphlagonian, of
whom so extraordinary an account is transmitted to us by Lucian. He
was the native of an obscure town, called Abonotica, but was endowed
with all that ingenuity and cunning which enables men most effectually
to impose upon their fellow-creatures. He was tall of stature, of an
impressive aspect, a fair complexion, eyes that sparkled with an
awe-commanding fire as if informed by some divinity, and a voice to
the last degree powerful and melodious. To these he added the graces
of carriage and attire. Being born to none of the goods of fortune, he
considered with himself how to turn these advantages to the greatest
account; and the plan he fixed upon was that of instituting an oracle
entirely under his own direction. He began at Chalcedon on the
Thracian Bosphorus; but, continuing but a short time there, he used it
principally as an opportunity for publishing that Aesculapius, with
Apollo, his father, would in no long time fix his residence at
Abonotica. This rumour reached the fellow-citizens of the prophet, who
immediately began to lay the foundations of a temple for the reception
of the God. In due time Alexander made his appearance; and he so well
managed his scheme, that, by means of spies and emissaries whom he
scattered in all directions, he not only collected applications to his
prophetic skill from the different towns of Ionia, Cilicia and Galatia,
but presently extended his fame to Italy and Rome. For twenty years
scarcely any oracle of the known world could vie with that of
Abonotica; and the emperor Aurelius himself is said to have relied for
the success of a military expedition upon the predictions of Alexander
the Paphlagonian.

Lucian gives, or pretends to give, an account of the manner in which
Alexander gained so extraordinary a success. He says, that this young
man in his preliminary travels, coming to Pella in Macedon, found that
the environs of this city were distinguished from perhaps all other
parts of the world, by a breed of serpents of extraordinary size and
beauty. Our author adds that these serpents were so tame, that they
inhabited the houses of the province, and slept in bed with the
children. If you trod upon them, they did not turn again, or shew
tokens of anger, and they sucked the breasts of the women to whom it
might be of service to draw off their milk. Lucian says, it was
probably one of these serpents, that was found in the bed of Olympias,
and gave occasion to the tale that Alexander the Great was begotten by
Jupiter under the form of a serpent. The prophet bought the largest
and finest serpent he could find, and conveyed it secretly with him
into Asia. When he came to Abonotica, he found the temple that was
built surrounded with a moat; and he took an opportunity privately of
sinking a goose-egg, which he had first emptied of its contents,
inserting instead a young serpent just hatched, and closing it again
with great care. He then told his fellow-citizens that the God was
arrived, and hastening to the moat, scooped up the egg in an egg-cup
in presence of the whole assembly. He next broke the shell, and shewed
the young serpent that twisted about his fingers in presence of the
admiring multitude. After this he suffered several days to elapse, and
then, collecting crowds from every part of Paphlagonia, he exhibited
himself, as he had previously announced he should do, with the fine
serpent he had brought from Macedon twisted in coils about the
prophet's neck, and its head hid under his arm-pit, while a head
artfully formed with linen, and bearing some resemblance to a human
face, protruded itself, and passed for the head of the reptile. The
spectators were beyond measure astonished to see a little embryo
serpent, grown in a few days to so magnificent a size, and exhibiting
the features of a human countenance.

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