the Greeks, and from the Greeks to the
Latins.

From the time of Homer,[153] magic was quite common among the Greeks.
That poet speaks of the cure of wounds, and of blood staunched by the
secrets of magic, and by enchantment. St. Paul, when at Ephesus,
caused to be burned there books of magic and curious secrets, the
value of which amounted to the sum of 50,000 pieces of silver.[154] We
have before said a few words concerning Simon the magician, and the
magician Elymas, known in the Acts of the Apostles.[155] Pindar
says[156] that the centaur Chiron cured several enchantments. When
they say that Orpheus rescued from hell his wife Eurydice, who had
died from the bite of a serpent, they simply mean that he cured her by
the power of charms.[157] The poets have employed magic verses to make
themselves beloved, and they have taught them to others for the same
purpose; they may be seen in Theocritus, Catullus, and Virgil.
Theophrastus affirms that there are magical verses which cure
sciatica. Cato mentions (or repeats) some against luxations.[158]
Varro admits that there are some powerful against the gout.

The sacred books testify that enchanters have the secret of putting
serpents to sleep, and of charming them, so that they can never either
bite again or cause any more harm.[159] The crocodile, that terrible
animal, fears even the smell and voice of the Tentyriens.[160] Job,
speaking of the leviathan, which we believe to be the crocodile, says,
"Shall the enchanter destroy it?"[161] And in Ecclesiasticus, "Who
will pity the enchanter that has been bitten by the serpent?"[162]

Everybody knows what is related of the Marsi, people of Italy, and of
the Psyllae, who possessed the secret of charming serpents. One would
say, says St. Augustine,[163] that these animals understand the
languages of the Marsi, so obedient are they to their orders; we see
them come out of their caverns as soon as the Marsian has spoken. All
this can only be done, says the same father, by the power of the
malignant spirit, whom God permits to exercise this empire over
venomous reptiles, above all, the serpent, as if to punish him for
what he did to the first woman. In fact, it may be remarked that no
animal is more exposed to charms, and the effects of magic art, than
the serpent.

The laws of the Twelve Tables forbid the charming of a neighbor's
crops, _qui fruges excantasset_. Valerius Flaccus quotes authors who
affirm that when the Romans wer