34 Mr. R. M. Henry on 



Astrological theories and the belief in malignant spirits had 

 peopled both heaven and earth in the popular estimation with 

 hostile powers of evil and many magical ceremonies were invented 

 and propagated to protect mankind from their resentment and 

 hostility. This was one of the beliefs taken over by the Church 

 from its heathen neighbours. The possibility of demoniac 

 possession was universally admitted and it was held to be possible 

 for a magician to send a spirit to inhabit the body of one over 

 whom the magician wished to gain power. The destruction of 

 one's enemies was a common object of magical procedure. The 

 leaden defixiones, found in hundreds throughout the countries 

 comprised in the Roman Empire, which were inscribed with the 

 name of the person to be cursed and deposited in a grave, are proof 

 of the universality of such practices. They were used by trades- 

 men in the hope of injuring their rivals, by litigants against their 

 opponents, wives against faithless husbands and vice-versa. A large 

 number were drawn up by charioteers with a view to secure the 

 victory over their opponents in the races in the great amphitheatres 

 of Rome and Carthage. The death of an enemy was also supposed 

 to follow the manufacture of a leaden image representing him which 

 was, with appropiate ceremonies, hidden in a grave or flung into the 

 sea. Some of these leaden images are still extant. Similar 

 ceremonies with waxen images could secure the affection of a 

 beloved person : such ceremonies are described by Theocritus, 

 Vergil, and Lucian. To this love magic, in itself harmless, was 

 added the belief in demons, and the horrible practice arose of 

 attempting to secure affection by causing the object of one's desires 

 to be possessed by a demon which brought its victim under 

 complete control. Many curious stories of such practices are 

 recorded and not the least curious are those in which monks and 

 priests undertake to exorcise the demon, never questioning the 

 reality of his presence in the victim. 



Often the arts of the magician were directed towards the 

 attainment of useful ends, such as the healing of sickness or the 

 banishing of serpents ; often they were employed for purely 



