edients of a mortally poisonous nature. The
serpent was consecrated to Apollo, the god of physic and of oracles;
and the pagans had a sort of divination by means of serpents, which
they called _Ophiomantia_.

The Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans worshiped serpents, and regarded
them as divine.[91] They brought to Rome the serpent of Epidaurus, to
which they paid divine honors. The Egyptians considered vipers as
divinities.[92] The Israelites adored the brazen serpent elevated by
Moses in the desert,[93] and which was in after times broken in pieces
by the holy king Hezekiah.[94]

St. Augustine[95] assures us that the Manichaeans regarded the serpent
as the Christ, and said that this animal had opened the eyes of Adam
and Eve by the bad counsel which he gave them. We almost always see
the form of the serpent in the magical figures[96] _Akraxas_ and
_Abrachadabra_, which were held in veneration among the Basilidian
heretics, who, like the Manichaeans, acknowledge two principles in all
things--the one good, the other bad; _Abraxas_ in Hebrew signifies
_that bad principle_, or the father of evil; _ab-ra-achad-ab-ra_, _the
father of evil_, _the sole father of evil_, or the only bad
principle.

St. Augustine[97] remarks that no animal has been more subject to the
effects of enchantment and magic than the serpent, as if to punish him
for having seduced the first woman by his imposture.

However, the demon has usually assumed the human form when he would
tempt mankind; it was thus that he appeared to Jesus Christ in the
desert;[98] that he tempted him and told him to change the stones into
bread that he might satisfy his hunger; that he transported him, the
Saviour, to the highest pinnacle of the temple, and showed him all the
kingdoms of the world, and offered him the enjoyment of them.

The angel who wrestled with Jacob at Peniel,[99] on his return from
his journey into Mesopotamia, was a bad angel, according to some
ancient writers; others, as Severus Sulpicius[100] and some Rabbis,
have thought that it was the angel of Esau, who had come to combat
with Jacob; but the greater number believe that it was a good angel.
And would Jacob have asked him for his blessing had he deemed him a
bad angel? But however that fact may be taken, it is not doubtful that
the demon has appeared in a human form.

Several stories, both ancient and modern, are related which inform us
that the demon has appeared to those whom he wished to seduc