as containing, in the opinion of some, one of the few notices of Christianity which occur in contemporary heathen writers. One of the party at which the narrator was present speaks of having been an eyewitness of certain cures worked upon "demoniacs" by a person of whom he speaks as "that Syrian from Palestine, whom all men know." "He would stand over those possessed, and ask the spirits from whence they had entered into the body? and the sick man himself would be silent, but the devil would reply, either in Greek or some barbarous tongue of his own country, how and from whence he had entered into the man. Then the exorcist, using adjurations, and, if these had no effect, even threats, would expel the spirit."[1] It has been thought that here we have a record of healing wrought by some one of the successors of the Christian apostles. It must be observed, however, that the cure is here expressly said to have been performed "for a large fee," and that we have distinct mention in the Acts of the Apostles of professed exorcists who were not Christians.
The "Saturnalia," and the piece called "Nigrinus," may also be classed with the preceding. In the first, the author takes occasion of the well-known annual festival, kept in remembrance of the "good old times," at which so much general licence was allowed even to slaves, to deal some good-humoured blows at the follies of the day; and at the same time to introduce Saturn
- ↑ "The Marvel-Mongers" (Philopseudes), 16.
