own; which caused the
people to shout in the theatre, "Marnas is vanished--Jesus Christ is
victorious!" And this victory of Italicus produced the conversion of
several persons at Gaza.

Will it be said that this is only the effect of imagination,
prepossession, or the trickery of a clever charlatan? How can you
persuade fifty people that a woman who is present before their eyes
can be changed into a mare, supposing that she has retained her own
natural shape? How was it that the soldier mentioned by AEneas Sylvius
did not recognize his wife, whom he pierced with his sword, and whose
ears he cut off? How did Apollonius of Tyana persuade the Ephesians to
kill a man, who really was only a dog? How did he know that this dog,
or this man, was the cause of the pestilence which afflicted Ephesus?
It is then very credible that the evil spirit often acts on bodies, on
the air, the earth, and on animals, and produces effects which appear
above the power of man.

It is said that in Lapland they have a school for magic, and that
fathers send their children to it, being persuaded that magic is
necessary to them, that they may avoid falling into the snares of
their enemies, who are themselves great magicians. They make the
familiar demons, whose services they command, pass as an inheritance
to their children, that they may make use of them to overcome the
demons of other families who are adverse to their own. They often make
use of a certain kind of drum for their magical operations; for
instance, if they wish to know what is passing in a foreign country,
one amongst them beats this drum, placing upon it at the part where
the image of the sun is represented, a quantity of pewter rings
attached together with a chain of the same metal; then they strike the
drum with a forked hammer made of bone, so that these rings move; at
the same time they sing distinctly a song, called by the Laplanders
_Jonk_; and all those of their nation who are present, men and women,
add their own songs, expressing from time to time the name of the
place whence they desire to have news.

The Laplander having beaten the drum for some time, places it on his
head in a certain manner, and falls down directly motionless on the
ground, and without any sign of life. All the men and all the women
continue singing, till he revives; if they cease to sing, the man
dies, which happens also if any one tries to awaken him by touching
his hand or his foot. They even keep