So St. Augustin de Civitate Dei, ix. 11. “Plotinus says that the souls of men are demons, and of men become Lares, if they are of good desert; if of bad, Lemures or Larvæ.” Mr. Field refers to St. Chrys. 2 Hom. on Lazarus, vi. 235, 6 (Savile). “Many of the simpler sort imagine that the souls of such as die violent deaths are turned into demons, whereas the souls which really become such are theirs who are yet living in their sins, not by change of substance, but by imitating their evil mind.…Why did the devil introduce this wicked doctrine? He tried to undermine the glory of the martyrs. I mean, because they die violent deaths, he wishing to diffuse an evil impression of them, did this. This, however, he could not do, but another very grievous result he did accomplish. He induced, by these doctrines, the sorcerers that minister to him to butcher the bodies of many tender youths, in the hope that they would become demons, and in return minister to them.” He proceeds to argue against the superstition much as in the text here.