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all the superstitious by error; which, being itself wholly worthless, they have divided into two, the harmful and the beneficial, 5.3.9 and have given them the names of good and bad. This being the case, it seems to me necessary, having set aside matters that do not even require refutation, to consider the subsequent argument concerning demonic activity; which, having partially considered in the treatise before this one, we will now complete what is lacking. 5.3.10 Come then, let us now proceed at last to the proofs themselves. And I will first set forth those from the writing of Plutarch, which he composed "On the Oracles That Have Ceased," where, concerning the divinations and oracles among the gentiles being the work of wicked demons, he writes in this manner: 5.4.1 4.

CONCERNING THE DIVINATIONS AND ORACLES AMONG THE GENTILES BEING THE WORK OF WICKED DEMONS

"Well then do they also say, who say that Plato, by discovering the underlying element for the qualities that come into being, which they call matter, delivered the philosophers from many and great perplexities. But to me, they seem to have solved more and greater perplexities who discovered the race of demons, placing it between gods and men and in a certain way gathering and joining our community into one, whether this doctrine is from the Magi around Zoroaster, or Thracian from Orpheus, or Egyptian, or Phrygian, as we infer from the rites on both sides, seeing many mortal and mournful elements mixed in with the celebrated and performed sacred ceremonies. But of the Greeks, Homer appears to use both names in common, sometimes calling the gods demons. But Hesiod clearly and distinctly first set forth four races of rational beings: gods, then demons, then heroes, and last of all men. From which, it seems, he makes the transformation, the golden race turning into many good demons, and the demigods being separated into heroes." 5.4.2 Then he says next: "But about these things it is not necessary for us to differ with Demetrius. For whether the time be longer or shorter, whether ordered or unordered, in which the soul of a demon and the life of a hero changes, it will no less be shown, for which he wishes, with wise and ancient witnesses, that there are certain natures, as it were, on the borderline of gods and men, that receive mortal passions and necessary changes, whom it is right to revere, considering them and calling them demons according to the law of our fathers." To these things, after others, he adds: "That it is not gods who preside over the oracles, for whom it is fitting to be free from earthly concerns, but demons, servants of the gods, does not seem to me to be a bad claim; but to attribute to these demons, almost taking a drachma from the verses of Empedocles, sins and follies and divinely-sent wanderings, and finally to suppose for them deaths just as for men, I consider rather rash and barbaric." 5.4.3 And again he adds these things to what has been said: "For just as among men, so also among demons there are differences of virtue, and of the passionate and irrational part; in some it is a weak and faint remnant, like a superfluity, while in others it is great and hard to extinguish, of which scattered traces and symbols are preserved and kept safe in many places by sacrifices and rites and mythologies. And concerning the mystic rites, in which it is possible to receive the greatest indications and glimpses of the truth about demons, 'let my mouth be sealed,' as Herodotus says. But festivals and sacrifices, like unlucky and gloomy days, in which there are feasts of raw flesh and dismemberments, fastings and lamentations, and in many places again foul language at the temples and 'other rages stirred up with neck-tossing convulsion,' I would say are performed not for any of the gods, but as appeasements for the turning away of wicked demons; the human sacrifices formerly performed neither gods

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πλάνης πάντα τὸν δεισιδαίμονα· ὃ καὶ αὐτὸ διόλου φαῦλον ὂν εἰς δύο διελόντες, εἴς τε τὸ βλαπτικὸν καὶ εἰς τὸ ὠφελοῦν, 5.3.9 ἀγαθῶν καὶ φαύλων αὐτοῖς τεθείκασι προσηγορίας. ὧν οὕτως ἐχόντων ἀναγκαῖον εἶναί μοι δοκεῖ τὰ μηδ' ἀντιρρήσεως δεόμενα παρεκθεμένους τὸν περὶ τῆς δαιμονικῆς ἐνεργείας ἀκόλουθον συνιδεῖν λόγον· ὃν ἐκ μέρους προθεωρήσαντες ἐν τῷ πρὸ τούτου συγγράμματι τὰ λείποντα νῦν ἀποπλη5.3.10 ρώσομεν. φέρ' οὖν ἤδη λοιπὸν ἐπ' αὐτὰς χωρήσωμεν τὰς ἀποδείξεις. θήσω δὲ πρώτας τὰς ἀπὸ τῆς Πλουτάρχου γραφῆς, ἣν πεποίηται «Περὶ τῶν ἐκλελοιπότων χρηστηρίων», ἔνθα περὶ τοῦ πονηρῶν δαιμόνων εἶναι τὰ παρὰ τοῖς ἔθνεσιν μαντεῖά τε καὶ χρηστήρια τόνδε γράφει τὸν τρόπον· 5.4.1 δʹ.

ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ ΠΟΝΗΡΩΝ ∆ΑΙΜΟΝΩΝ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΤΑ ΠΑΡΑ ΤΟΙΣ ΕΘΝΕΣΙ ΜΑΝΤΕΙΑ ΤΕ ΚΑΙ ΧΡΗΣΤΗΡΙΑ

«Εὖ μὲν οὖν λέγουσι καὶ οἱ λέγοντες ὅτι Πλάτων τὸ ταῖς γεννωμέναις ποιότησιν ὑποκείμενον στοιχεῖον ἐξευρών, ἣν ὕλην καλοῦσιν, πολλῶν ἀπήλλαξεν καὶ μεγάλων ἀποριῶν τοὺς φιλοσόφους. ἐμοὶ δὲ δοκοῦσιν πλείονας λῦσαι καὶ μείζονας ἀπορίας οἱ τὸ τῶν δαιμόνων γένος ἐν μέσῳ θεῶν καὶ ἀνθρώπων θέντες καὶ τρόπον τινὰ τὴν κοινωνίαν ἡμῶν συνάγον εἰς ταὐτὸ καὶ συνάπτον ἐξευρόντες, εἴτε μάγων τῶν περὶ Ζωροάστρην ὁ λόγος οὗτός ἐστιν εἴτε Θρᾴκιος ἀπὸ Ὀρφέως ἢ Αἰγύπτιος ἢ Φρύγιος, ὡς τεκμαιρόμεθα ταῖς ἑκατέρωθι τελεταῖς ἀναμεμιγμένα πολλὰ θνητὰ καὶ πένθιμα τῶν ὀργιαζομένων καὶ δρωμένων ἱερῶν ὁρῶντες. Ἑλλήνων δὲ Ὅμηρος μὲν ἐπιφαίνεται κοινῶς ἀμφοτέροις χρώμενος τοῖς ὀνόμασιν καὶ τοὺς θεοὺς ἔστιν ὅτε δαίμονας προσαγορεύων. Ἡσίοδος δὲ καθαρῶς καὶ διωρισμένως πρῶτον ἐξέθηκεν τῶν λογικῶν τέσσαρα γένη· θεούς, εἶτα δαίμονας, εἶτα ἥρωας, τὸ δ' ἐπὶ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώπους. ἐξ ὧν ἔοικε ποιεῖν τὴν μεταβολήν, τοῦ μὲν χρυσοῦ γένους εἰς δαίμονας πολλοὺς κἀγαθούς, τῶν δ' ἡμιθέων εἰς ἥρωας ἀποκριθέντων.» 5.4.2 Εἶθ' ἑξῆς φησιν· «Ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον ἡμᾶς ∆ημητρίῳ διαφέρεσθαι. καὶ γὰρ κἂν πλείων εἴη χρόνος κἂν ἐλάττων κἂν τεταγμένος κἂν ἄτακτος, ἐν ᾧ μεταλλάττει δαίμονος ψυχὴ καὶ ἥρωος βίος, οὐδὲν ἧττον, ἐφ' ᾧ βούλεται, δεδείξεται μετὰ μαρτύρων σοφῶν καὶ παλαιῶν ὅτι φύσεις τινές εἰσιν ὥσπερ ἐν μεθορίῳ θεῶν καὶ ἀνθρώπων δεχόμεναι πάθη θνητὰ καὶ μεταβολὰς ἀναγκαίας, οὓς δαίμονας ὀρθῶς ἔχει κατὰ νόμον πατέρων ἡγουμένους καὶ ὀνομάζοντας σέβεσθαι.» Τούτοις μεθ' ἕτερα ἐπιλέγει· «Τὸ μὲν οὖν ἐφεστάναι τοῖς χρηστηρίοις μὴ θεούς, οἷς ἀπηλλάχθαι τῶν περὶ γῆν προσῆκόν ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ δαίμονας ὑπηρέτας θεῶν, οὐ δοκεῖ μοι κακῶς ἀξιοῦσθαι· τὸ δὲ τοῖς δαίμοσι τούτοις, μονονουχὶ δραχμὴν λαμβάνοντας ἐκ τῶν ἐπῶν τῶν Ἐμπεδοκλέους, ἁμαρτίας καὶ ἄτας καὶ πλάνας θεηλάτους ἐπιφέρειν, τελευτῶντας δὲ καὶ θανάτους ὥσπερ ἀνθρώπων ὑποτίθεσθαι, θρασύτερον ἡγοῦμαι καὶ βαρβαρικώτερον.» 5.4.3 Καὶ πάλιν προστίθησι τοῖς εἰρημένοις ταῦτα· «Εἰσὶ γὰρ ὡς ἐν ἀνθρώποις καὶ δαίμοσιν ἀρετῆς διαφοραὶ καὶ τοῦ παθητικοῦ καὶ ἀλόγου τοῖς μὲν ἀσθενὲς καὶ ἀμαυρόν ἐστι λείψανον ὡς περίττωμα, τοῖς δὲ πολὺ καὶ δυσκατάσβεστον ἔνεστιν, ὧν ἴχνη καὶ σύμβολα πολλαχοῦ θυσίαι τε καὶ τελεταὶ καὶ μυθολογίαι σῴζουσι καὶ διαφυλάττουσι διεσπαρμέναι. καὶ περὶ μὲν τῶν μυστικῶν, ἐν οἷς τὰς μεγίστας ἐμφάσεις καὶ διαφάσεις λαβεῖν ἔστι τῆς περὶ δαιμόνων ἀληθείας, «εὔστομά μοι κείσθω» καθ' Ἡρόδοτον. ἑορτὰς δὲ καὶ θυσίας, ὥσπερ ἡμέρας ἀποφράδας καὶ σκυθρωπάς, ἐν αἷς ὠμοφαγίαι καὶ διασπασμοὶ νηστεῖαί τε καὶ κοπετοί, πολλαχοῦ δὲ πάλιν αἰσχρολογίαι πρὸς ἱεροῖς «μανίαι τε ἄλλαι ὀρινόμεναι ῥιψαύχενι σὺν κλόνῳ», θεῶν μὲν οὐδενί, δαιμόνων δὲ φαύλων ἀποτροπῆς ἕνεκα φήσαιμ' ἂν τελεῖσθαι παραμύθια· τὰς πάλαι ποιουμένας ἀνθρωποθυσίας οὔτε θεοὺς