Chapter XXVII.—Artifices of the Demons.

What then? In the first place, the irrational and fantastic movements of the soul about opinions produce a diversity of images (εἴδωλα) from time to time: some they derive from matter, and some they fashion and bring forth for themselves; and this happens to a soul especially when it partakes of the material spirit101    [Kaye, p. 191; and comp. cap. xxiv., supra, p. 142.] and becomes mingled with it, looking not at heavenly things and their Maker, but downwards to earthly things, wholly at the earth, as being now mere flesh and blood, and no longer pure spirit.102    [Comp. On the Resurrection, cap. xiii., infra., p. 439 of ed. Edinburgh. Also Kaye, p. 199.] These irrational and fantastic movements of the soul, then, give birth to empty visions in the mind, by which it becomes madly set on idols. When, too, a tender and susceptible soul, which has no knowledge or experience of sounder doctrines, and is unaccustomed to contemplate truth, and to consider thoughtfully the Father and Maker of all things, gets impressed with false opinions respecting itself, then the demons who hover about matter, greedy of sacrificial odours and the blood of victims, and ever ready to lead men into error, avail themselves of these delusive movements of the souls of the multitude; and, taking possession of their thoughts, cause to flow into the mind empty visions as if coming from the idols and the statues; and when, too, a soul of itself, as being immortal,103    [Kaye, p. 190.] moves comformably to reason, either predicting the future or healing the present, the demons claim the glory for themselves.

Τί οὖν; πρῶτα μὲν αἱ τῆς ψυχῆς ἄλογοι καὶ ἰνδαλματώδεις περὶ τὰς δόξας κινήσεις ἄλλοτ' ἄλλα εἴδωλα τὰ μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς ὕλης ἕλκουσι, τὰ δὲ αὑταῖς ἀναπλάττουσιν καὶ κυοῦσιν. πάσχει δὲ τοῦτο ψυχὴ μάλιστα τοῦ ὑλικοῦ προσλαβοῦσα καὶ ἐπισυγκραθεῖσα πνεύματος, οὐ πρὸς τὰ οὐράνια καὶ τὸν τούτων ποιητὴν ἀλλὰ κάτω πρὸς τὰ ἐπίγεια βλέπουσα, καθολικῶς εἰπεῖν, ὡς μόνον αἷμα καὶ σάρξ, οὐκέτι πνεῦμα καθαρὸν γιγνομένη. αἱ οὖν ἄλογοι αὗται καὶ ἰνδαλματώδεις τῆς ψυχῆς κινήσεις εἰδωλομανεῖς ἀποτίκτουσι φαντασίας· ὅταν δὲ ἁπαλὴ καὶ εὐάγωγος ψυχή, ἀνήκοος μὲν καὶ ἄπειρος λόγων ἐρρωμένων, ἀθεώρητος δὲ τοῦ ἀληθοῦς, ἀπερινόητος δὲ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ ποιητοῦ τῶν ὅλων, ἐναποσφραγίσηται ψευδεῖς περὶ αὑτῆς δόξας, οἱ περὶ τὴν ὕλην δαίμονες, λίχνοι περὶ τὰς κνίσας καὶ τὸ τῶν ἱερείων αἷμα ὄντες, ἀπατηλοὶ δὲ ἀνθρώπων, προσ λαβόντες τὰς ψευδοδόξους ταύτας τῶν πολλῶν τῆς ψυχῆς κινήσεις, φαντασίας αὐτοῖς ὡς ἀπὸ τῶν εἰδώλων καὶ ἀγαλμάτων ἐπιβατεύον τες αὐτῶν τοῖς νοήμασιν εἰσρεῖν παρέχουσιν, καὶ ὅσα καθ' αὑτήν, ὡς ἀθάνατος οὖσα, λογικῶς κινεῖται ψυχὴ ἢ προμηνύουσα τὰ μέλλοντα ἢ θεραπεύουσα τὰ ἐνεστηκότα, τούτων τὴν δόξαν καρ ποῦνται οἱ δαίμονες.