of the second, since we still find persons who are possessed;
and it cannot be denied, that even since Jesus Christ, God has often
permitted this kind of possession to chastise mankind, and serve as a
warning. Thence it remains, that the demon has only been absolutely
despoiled of the third; and that it is in this sense we must
understand what St. Paul says, "that Satan has been enchained." Thence
it comes, that since the death of our Saviour all these diabolical
______ having no longer the same success as before, those who until
then had made a profession of them, brought their books to the
apostles' feet, and burned them in their presence." For that these
books treated principally of magic, we learn from St. Athanasius, who
alludes to this part of the Scripture, when he says, that "those who
had been celebrated for this art burned their books." It is not that,
even in the most distant time, braggarts and impostors have been
wanting who falsely boasted of what they could not perform. Thus we
read in Ecclesiasticus--"Who will pity the enchanter that is bitten by
the serpent?" In the time of St. Paul, some exorcists, who were Jews,
ran about the country, vainly endeavoring to expel demons; this was
the case with seven sons of one of the chief priests at Ephesus. It is
this prejudice which made Josephus believe[692] that in the presence
of Vespasian and all his court attendants, a Jew had expelled demons
from the bodies of the possessed by piercing their nose with a ring,
in which had been encased a root pointed out by Solomon. In his
narrative of this event, we may see, in truth, that the demons were
obliged to give some sign of their exit; but who does not perceive
that what he relates can proceed only from one who has suffered
himself to be deceived, or who seeks to deceive others?

XII. From what I have said, it is obvious, that if in the Old
Testament the magic power, and the prodigies worked by magic, are
often spoken of, there is in return no mention made of it in the New.
It is true, that as the world was never wanting in impostors, who
sought to appropriate to themselves the name and reputation of
magician, we find two of these seducers named in the Acts of the
Apostles. The one is Elymas,[693] who, in the isle of Cyprus, wished
to turn the attention of the Roman proconsul from listening to the
preaching of the apostles, and for that was punished with blindness.
The other is Simon, who for a long time preaching