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But by fabricating these things, he wished to signify indirectly that the demon was able to summon the prophet even against his will, and to have such authority over him. 11.3 Then are some so dim-sighted as to be unable to understand that all who sincerely hold the faith of Christ drive out demons in the divine name, and not the opposite, that, being subject to them, they ascend from Hades against their will, being summoned by them? 11.4 But if anyone thinks that the demon of the ventriloquist is never driven out, surpassing all the others together, let him turn to the Acts of the Apostles, and having entered into those very passages, let him see how the herald of the circuit, Paul, arrived in Philippi; 11.5 and when he had enlightened the one called Lydia with knowledge of piety, then he went to offer up his prayers, and "it happened that a certain slave girl met him," it says, "having a spirit of a python, who brought her masters much gain by soothsaying." Therefore, she, following Paul and those with him, cried out loudly: "These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation"; and this she did for many days. 11.6 But the demon, being tormented by an invisible scourge, was compelled against his will to utter such words, but Paul, most rightly considering his testimony not to be trustworthy, being greatly annoyed, said to the spirit, saying, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." Then the author, narrating the matter, adds, saying, "and it came out that very hour." 11.7 Therefore, when the masters of the servant girl saw that the hope of their gain was gone, "they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the rulers," and they were the cause of insults and beatings, having stirred up strife by slander. 11.8 If, then, Paul, having rebuked the spirit, suddenly drove out the divining spirit in that very instant, and the spirit fled at the authority of the word, being unable to withstand the sound of his tongue, let him who agrees with such a definition come forward openly and say by what virtue of power the demon, summoning him against his will, brought up from Hades Samuel, who was of the same faith as Paul. 11.9 But he could not show any of these things to be true; so that also through these things it is very easy to see that the deceiver, having transformed himself, spoke to Saul, saying, "Why have you disturbed me?" For he was hinting that he ascended against his will, unwillingly, not wanting to, but by necessity and force, as if commanded by the mightier one to be summoned by him. 11.10 But the ruler, replying, said: "I am in great distress, and the Philistines are making war against me, and God has departed," he says, "from me and has not heard me any more, neither by the hand of the prophets nor in dreams; and now I have called you to make known to me what I shall do." Therefore, one must answer again: if Samuel the renowned was a prophet, would he not have brought the man to his senses by admonishing him? 11.11 Would he not have first said to him: "Tell me, most wretched of all men, if the foreigners have beset you for war, drawn up in close combat, if indeed God has departed from you and has not listened to you at all, and prophets interceding for you were not heard, and neither sleeping nor waking was what is needful revealed to you, ought you not rather in this way to have propitiated and submitted to God, and by alms for the poor to wash away the causes of your offenses, rather than resorting to a ventriloquist soothsayer, and exchanging the symbols of piety for maddened divination, and increasing your own suffering twofold? 11.12 For must one not consider that God has expressly forbidden such defilements, saying in Leviticus through Moses: "You shall not go after ventriloquists, and you shall not cleave to enchanters to be defiled by them; I am the Lord your God"? But do you not consider these abominations to be impious, attempting to enact things contrary to God? 11.13 20Hear also after other things God20 delivering an oracle concerning such a daring act: "And the soul," he says, "which

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ταῦτα δὲ πλαττόμενος ἀπαρεμφάτως ἐβούλετο σημαίνειν ὅτι καὶ ἄκοντα τὸν προφήτην ὁ δαίμων ἠδύνατο μεταπέμπεσθαι, καὶ κατ' αὐτοῦ τοιαύτην ἔχειν ἐξουσίαν. 11.3 εἶτα τοσοῦτον ἀμβλυωποῦσί τινες, ὡς οὐ δύνασθαι νοεῖν ὅτι τοὺς δαίμονας ἐν τῷ θείῳ φυγαδεύουσιν ὀνόματι πάντες οἱ τὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ φρονοῦντες εἰλικρινῶς, οὐχὶ δὲ τοὐναντίον ὡς ὑποκείμενοι τούτοις ἄκοντες ἀναβαίνουσιν ἐξ ᾅδου, μεταπεμπόμενοι πρὸς αὐτῶν; 11.4 εἰ δέ τις οἴεται τὸ τῆς ἐγγαστριμύθου δαιμόνιον οὐδεπώποτε φυγαδεύεσθαι, προὖχον ἁπάντων ὁμοῦ τῶν ἄλλων, ἀναδραμέτω μὲν εἰς τὰς τῶν ἀποστόλων Πράξεις, ἐπ' αὐτῶν δὲ τῶν χωρίων ἐμβατεύσας ἰδέτω πῶς ὁ περίοδος ἱεροκήρυξ ἀφίκετο Παῦλος εἰς Φιλίππους· 11.5 ὡς δὲ τὴν καλουμένην ἐφώτισε Λυδίαν εὐσεβείας ἐπιγνώσει, τηνικαῦτα μὲν ᾤχετο τὰς εὐχὰς ἀνοίσων, «ἐγένετο δὲ παιδίσκην ἀπαντῆσαί τινα» φησὶν «ἔχουσαν πνεῦμα πύθωνος, ἥπερ ἐργασίαν πολλὴν παρεῖχεν τοῖς κυρίοις αὐτῆς μαντευομένη». τοιγαροῦν αὕτη κατακολουθήσασα τῷ Παύλῳ καὶ τοῖς ἀμφ' αὐτὸν ἐβόα γεγωνότως· «οὖτοι οἱ ἄνθρωποι δοῦλοι τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ὑψίστου εἰσίν, οἵτινες καταγγέλλουσιν ὑμῖν ὁδὸν σωτηρίας»· καὶ τοῦτο ἐπὶ πολλὰς ἔπραττεν ἡμέρας. 11.6 ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν δαίμων ἀοράτῳ μάστιγι στρεβλούμενος ἄκων ἠναγκάζετο τοιαύτας ἀφιέναι φωνάς, ὁ δὲ Παῦλος οὐκ ἀξιόπιστον εἶναι τὴν ἐκείνου μαρτυρίαν ἐννοήσας ὀρθότατα, διαπονηθεὶς ἔφη τῷ πνεύματι, «παραγγέλλω σοι» λέγων «ἐν ὀνόματι Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐξελθεῖν ἀπ' αὐτῆς». εἶτα τὸ πρᾶγμα διηγούμενος ὁ συγγραφεὺς ἐπιφέρει, «καὶ ἐξῆλθεν» λέγων «αὐτῇ τῇ ὥρᾳ». 11.7 θεασάμενοι οὖν οἱ κύριοι τῆς θεραπαινίδος ὡς ἐκποδὼν ᾤχετο τῆς ἐργασίας αὐτῶν ἡ ἐλπίς, «ἐπιλαβόμενοι τὸν Παῦλον καὶ τὸν Σίλαν εἵλκυσαν εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἄρχοντας» ὕβρεσι δὲ καὶ πληγαῖς αἴτιοι γεγόνασι, συκοφαντίᾳ στάσεις ἐπεγείραντες. 11.8 εἰ τοίνυν ὁ Παῦλος ἐπιτιμήσας τῷ πνεύματι τὸν πυθόμαντιν ἀθρόως ἐξήλασεν ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ῥοπῇ, τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα τῇ τοῦ ῥήματος ἀπέδρασεν ἐξουσίᾳ μὴ δυνάμενον ὑποστῆναι τὸν τῆς γλώσσης ἦχον, εἰπάτω παριὼν εἰς τοὐμφανὲς ὁ τῷ τοιῷδε συνιστάμενος ὅρῳ, ποταπῇ δυνάμεως ἀρετῇ τὸν ὁμόδοξον τῷ Παύλῳ Σαμουὴλ ἄκοντα μετακαλούμενος ὁ δαίμων ἀνήγαγεν ἐξ ᾅδου. 11.9 ἀλλ' οὐκ ἂν ἔχοι δεικνύναι τούτων οὐδὲν ἀληθές· ὥστε καὶ διὰ τῶνδε μάλα ῥᾳδίως ἔστιν ἰδεῖν ὅτι μεταμορφωσάμενος ἠγόρευε τῷ Σαοὺλ ὁ δολομήτης, «ἵνα τί παρηνώχλησάς μοι;» φήσας. ὑπῃνίττετο γὰρ ὅτι παρὰ βούλησιν ἄκων ἀνέβαινεν, οὐ θέλων, ἀλλὰ ἀνάγκῃ καὶ βίᾳ, καθάπερ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ μεταπεμφθῆναι τοῦ κρείττονος ἐπιταχθείς. 11.10 ὁ δὲ δυνάστης ἀνθυπενέγκας ἔφη· «θλίβομαι σφόδρα, καὶ οἱ ἀλλόφυλοι πολεμοῦσιν ἐν ἐμοί, καὶ ὁ θεὸς ἀφέστηκε» φησὶν «ἀπ' ἐμοῦ καὶ οὐκ ἀκήκοέν μου ἔτι, οὔτ' ἐν χειρὶ τῶν προφητῶν οὔτε ἐν ἐνυπνίοις· καὶ νῦν κέκληκά σε γνωρίσαι μοι τί ποιήσω». πάλιν οὖν ἀποκριτέον· εἰ Σαμουὴλ ὁ περίβλεπτος ἐτύγχανε προφήτης, οὐκ ἂν ἐσωφρόνισε τὸν ἄνδρα νουθετῶν; 11.11 οὐκ ἂν εἶπεν αὐτῷ τὸ πρῶτον· εἰπέ μοι, σχέτλιε πάντων ἀνθρώπων, εἰ περιέστηκαν οἱ ἀλλογενεῖς εἰς πόλεμον ἀντιπαραταττόμενοι συσταδόν, εἴπερ ὁ θεὸς ἀφέστηκεν ἀπὸ σοῦ καὶ τὸ παράπαν οὐκ ἐπακήκοέν σου, οὔτε δὲ προφήται πρεσβεύοντες ὑπὲρ σοῦ κατῄδεισαν, οὔτε ὄναρ οὔτε ὕπαρ ἀπεκαλύφθη σοι τὸ δέον, οὐ ταύτῃ μάλλον ὤφελες ἐξιλεούμενος ὑποκλιθῆναι θεῷ καὶ πενήτων ἐλεημοσύναις ἀπολούσασθαι τὰ τῶν ἐγκλημάτων αἴτια, μήτι γε δὴ καταφεύγειν ἐπὶ μάντιν ἐγγαστρίμυθον καὶ μανιώδει μαντικῇ τὰ τῆς εὐσεβείας ἀντικαταλλάττεσθαι σύμβολα καὶ καθ' ἑαυτοῦ τὸ πάθος αὐξῆσαι διττῶς; 11.12 ἦ γὰρ οὐ διανοητέον ὅτι τὰ τοιάδε μιάσματα ῥητῶς ἀπηγόρευσεν ὁ θεός, ἐν τῷ Λευϊτικῷ διὰ Μωσέως εἰπών· «οὐκ ἐπακολουθήσετε τοῖς ἐγγαστριμύθοις, καὶ τοῖς ἐπαοιδοῖς οὐ προσκολληθήσεσθε μιανθῆναι ἐν αὐτοῖς· ἐγώ εἰμι κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὑμῶν»; ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀσεβῆ τάδε τὰ βδελύγματα νομίζεις, ἐναντία τῷ θεῷ δραματουργεῖν ἐγχειρῶν; 11.13 20ἄκουε καὶ μεθ' ἕτερα τοῦ θεοῦ20 χρησμῳδοῦντος ἐπὶ τῷ τοιῷδε τολμήματι· «καὶ ψυχὴ» φησὶν «ἥτις ἂν