494 TI1E OCTAVIUS OF a bracelet. The blind Tiresiassaw the future,althoughhe did not seethe present. Ennius invented the repliesof the Pythian Apollo concerning Pyrrhus, although Apollo had alreadyceased to make verses; and thatcautiousand ambi guous oracleof his,failedjustatthetimewhen men began to be at once more cultivatedand lesscredulous. And Demos thenes,becausehe knew thatthe answerswere feigned,com plainedthatthe Pythiaphilippized.But sometimes,itistrue, even auspicesor oracleshave touched the truth. Although among many falsehoodschance might appear as ifitimitated forethought; yetI willapproach the very sourceof errorand perverseness,whence allthat obscurityhas flowed,and both dig into it more deeply,and lay it open more manifestly. There are some insincereand vagrant spiritsdegraded from theirheavenlyvigourby earthlystainsand lusts.Now these spirits,afterhavinglostthe simplicityoftheirnatureby being weighed down and immersed invices,fora solaceof theircala mity,ceasenot,now thatthey are ruined themselves,to ruin others; and being depraved themselves,to infuseintoothers the errorof theirdepravity; and being themselvesalienated from God, to separateothersfrom God by the introduction of degraded superstitions.The poetsknow thatthosespirits are demons ; the philosophersdiscourseof them ; Socrates knew it,who, at the nod and decisionof a demon that was at hisside,eitherdeclinedor undertook affairs.The Magi, also,not only know that there are demons, but,moreover, whatever miracle they affectto perform,do itby means of demons ; by theiraspirationsand communicationsthey show theirwondrous tricks,making eitherthose things appear which are not, or those things not to appear which are. Of thosemagicians,the firstboth in eloquence and in deed, Sosthenes,1not only describesthe true God with fitting majesty,but the angelsthatare theministersand messengers of God, even the true God. And he knew thatitenhanced His veneration,that in awe of the very nod and glance of theirLord they shouldtremble. The same man alsodeclared that demons were earthly,wandering, hostileto humanity. 1 OtherwiseHostanes.