DAMON. ; 
ew Teflament; from a diftin®: examination and 3 llnftra- 
tien of which, Mr. Parmer concludes, that the term ns 
mons never means in’ them the devil and his angels ; 
that demons denoted the ghoits of dead mens nd that 
word was ufed, as the ancients wed it, fometimes in a go 
aud at other cage in a bad fenfe. For t omary ufe 
of the term in its connetion with poffeffions, i the article 
Dzmont AC. 
sto the meaning of the word — in the fathers of 
the Chriftian church, it is ufed by th n the fame man. 
ner it was by the heathen plicoptes eeenie the latter 
eparted sania {pirits, 
1 
t 
bd 
n the ancient philo- 
feel cpinion, that by 
li as the fouls of 
commonly taken im an evil fenfe than 
d it has been avery ge 
acquainted with this, me they 
but were depraved, a 
alfo affirms * that pee ar 
ecleftial, the other terreftrial ; 
thors z the ill things that are done, 
ve 
e two forts of demons, the one 
that the latter are the au- 
whofe laa is the 
daemons. Chry ten (in Pi. xl. tom. v. . 13 ; 
it among the favours of See that when ae air is 
full of demons and adverfe powers we do not difcern them; 
r 
for the fight of them might frighten us out of our wits, if 
not to death. Eufcbius of Celarea (Prep. Evang. 1. vii. 
c. 16.) fuppofed thefe fpirits to be fallen n angels ; ; and he 
bye pet when they had finned, ie for their tranfgrelfion 
the heavenly abodes, many of them weie 
called the abyfs, and confined te other 
vere ell 
eat ae hell, 
t to dwell near the moon, and i 
hem were fale red t 
region oo the i 
of whom were evil ns cian noe 
fhipped any fuch beings as we ca allen eee ; ae as to 
the opinion of the fathers, he obferves, that they conftantly 
‘maintain that see se aac Serapis, JEfeulapius, and all 
the heathen gods, ortal men; and that, there- 
fore, they eee themfelves, when they aflerted that 
they were a different order of bei If they admitted 
been men, with what truth or Coreen 
Mr. Farmer conceives 
: 
ct 
rot 
?) 
a 
Be 
phers, aid iat 
Neverthelefs, attached - educatio 
maintained, and Juftin eel in dar 
s alfo the eae with 
xegard to Athenagoras, "Tatia 1, Testullia: ; and other 
Belides the two oer kinds of demons, a: fae 
ja 
prudence. 
thers, as weil as = — peas held a third, vfs. 
fuch as {prang from the ngr erior — wit 
the daughters o on men. i” the Gene of th e ancients, 
thefe were o worlt kind of demons. woe! tullian’s Apo- 
logy, cap. Laé Giants, Div. Inftitut. lib. ni. cap. 14. 
Teetallsan here refers to * the fons a God,”? in the 
hiftory of Mofes (Gen. vi. 2.), who mixed with the daugh- 
ters of ie es who were believed to be angels by Juittin 
Martyr (Apolog. ii. p. 112.), Tertullian, and by almoft all 
the fathers ee the four firft centuries, upon the authority of 
Jofephus (Antiq. i. 4.\, Philo (vol. i. p. 263.), and the 
ancient editions of the Septuagint, he aa had fub{tituted 
* the angels of God,”’ naa of “ th 
taal 
+4 
beafts. Amongit evil demons there was a great diftinc- 
tion with refpect to the office affigned them; fome com- 
pelled men to wickednefs, others fimulated them to mad 
nefs. On the fubj ject of this article, fee, befides the original 
writers already cited, Banier Ie Ds Fe 
mer’s Diflert. on Miracles. Eflay on Demoniacs. Wore 
vip of Human Spirits. Lardner’s Works, vol. i. Bp. 
Newton’s Works, vol. iv. diff. xv. See Demoniac. 
EMON, Or Genius of Secrates, a fort of preceptor or 
monitor, whofe copa yand at aes he is faid to have ex- 
perienced ia the chief concerns and ‘actions of his life. This 
genius fuggefted to him what courfe it was proper for him 
aud oth ee to avoid, and diverted him, and thofe who re- 
garded his advice, fon the profecution of enterprifes which 
pea have proved prejudicial, without ever prompting him 
o any particular a€tion. icero (De Divin. 1. i. 
{cribes this demon as “ Divinum quoddam, quod demonum 
appeliat, cui femper ipfe paruerit, eye impellenti 
fepe revocanti.”” Plutarch and Apuleius have compof 
{eparate treatifes enius or ch of Socr; 
te unetring knowledge of fan: thofe who are the 
fagacious in difcerni ning the courfe and iffue of events, 
ad their effe& in contributing to the fuccefs or mifcarriage 
of any vs Ha approach the moft nearly to divinity, and 
feem, according to humaia judgment, to lao in fome 
degree, the coulnfels and defigns, ie for 
t 
tur d precarious, v 
and infallible. Socrates poffeffed a ai nae rable por- 
of this fa agacitys in the exercife of which he blended a 
ig and penetrating judgment with the moft confummate 
Accordingly he might denominate this kind of 
lagacity desoucy, fomething divine, adopting a fort of equi« 
vocal expreffion, and modeftly declining to arrogate to 
himfelf the merit of his wifdom in conjectures concerning 
futurity. The abbé Fraguier, in a differtation on this 
pee printed in the fourth volume of the “ Memoirs of 
the Academy of Belles Lettres,” aiabes the whole of 
what has been faid concerning the demon of Socrates, to 
the wifdom and prudence of that philofopher, which en- 
abled him to forelee many things which a perfon of inferior 
ought of ; for prudence, 
fays Cicero, is a kind 
eae to ate affuming to him 
unerring judgment, by attributing it to a kind of i 
and if he had mene to any extraordinary gift Ga 
te 
