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brate the mysteries of Bacchus, and the god possesscth us; but 

 now this same demon (AAIMHN) possesseth your king, and he per- 

 forms the part of a Bacchanalian, and is filled with fury by the 



god/ IlEIiODOTUS. 



This passage is truly remarkable. The identical expressions 

 used by the evangelist are also used by Herodotus. A demon, 

 ($txifjt.uv), or spirit, is the agent in the Greek historian, and in the 

 case mentioned in the text; in both cases it is said the demon takes 

 or possesses the persons, and the very same word hecpfiuvu is used 

 to express this circumstance by both historians. They both also 

 represent these possessions as real, by the effects produced in the 

 persons. The heathen king rages with fury through the influence 

 of the demon, called the god Bacchus; the person in the text 

 screams out, is greatly convulsed, and foams at the mouth. The 

 case in the sacred text was certainly a real possession; and there- 

 fore when the Jews saw that, by the superior power of Christ, 

 the demon was expelled, they were all astonished at the majesty 

 of God ! 



Virgil has left us a description of a demoniacal possession of 

 this kind, where the effects are nearly simitar. 



" — ^— — — ait, deus, ecce, deus ! cui talia fanti 

 " Ante fores, subito non voltus, non color unus, 

 " Non comptae mansere comse ; sed pectus anhelum, 

 " Et rabie fera corda tument : majorque videri, 

 " Nee mortale sonans, adflata est numine quanda 

 " Jam propiore Dei. — 



At Phcebi nondum patiens immanis in autre 



" Bacchatur vates, magnum si pectore possit 



