On Witches

This sentence continues from the previous page, discussing the power of the demonic illusion over Saul. [The spirit] could drive him with a mere nod and expose him to the destruction of the upcoming battle. Therefore, Scripture testifies that Saul died for his transgression, in which he acted wickedly against the Lord: namely, against the word of the Lord, which he did not keep, and because he consulted a Pythoness original: "Pythonem," referring to the Witch of Endor, often called a "Pythoness" in early modern texts due to the association with the Delphic oracle of Python. by questioning her, and did not seek the Lord. For this reason, the Lord killed him and transferred the kingdom to David, the son of Jesse.

Furthermore, if the testimony of Jesus son of Sirach The author of the Book of Ecclesiasticus, a deuterocanonical book. is urged—although, according to the testimony of Jerome, that book is not granted authority by the Church for confirming ecclesiastical dogmas, nor for resolving controversies of the same matters—I wish to add these points as well, lest the pious doctrine of this book be thought diminished: Jesus son of Sirach only presents the history from the first book of Samuel. He narrates what happened in simple speech, just as it is read, so that he might invite and provoke posterity to the emulation of ancestral virtue. He likewise briefly recounts the praises of Samuel, by no means wishing to debate whether the appearance of Samuel was true or feigned.

Among the Hebrew Rabbis Jewish scholars and commentators., although a few think otherwise, almost all judge it to have been the work of mediums—and nothing other than trickery, vanity, lies, and deception. They understand the "Samuel" to be a Pythonic spirit A spirit of divination. who had put on the appearance of Samuel. Likewise, they say that Samuel "appeared" to speak to Saul. The woman saw "Samuel," yet she did not hear him speaking to Saul; just as Saul did not see Samuel, that is, he did not see that diabolical illusion which appeared to him as Samuel. There are those among them who think all these things were fabricated by the woman’s art, who thus deluded Saul through certain conjectures. Kimhi David Kimhi (1160–1235), a prominent medieval Jewish biblical commentator and grammarian. argues against his adversaries thus: "If God raised Samuel to indicate the future outcome to Saul,

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why did He not reveal that outcome through dreams, or through prophets, or through the oracles of the priests, rather than through a sorcerous woman?" Our opinion is supported by Tertullian in his book On the Soul, and by Justin Martyr in his Explanation of Question 52. Also by that most sharp-witted critic of sacred theology, Augustine, in his Book of Questions on the Old and New Testaments (Question 27, and also Part 2, Chapter 26, Question 5), which is not surprising. The same Augustine also writes this in his work To Simplician (Question 3, Book 2), and To Dulcitius (Question 6), and in the small book On the Care to Be Taken for the Dead; likewise in Book 2 of On Christian Doctrine, Chapter 26. So too the author of the book On the Miracles of Holy Scripture, if that be Augustine’s. Furthermore, Rabanus Rabanus Maurus, a 9th-century Benedictine abbot and scholar. in his Letter to Abbot Bonaf states that good spirits do not obey magic incantations, as Origen testifies in the history of Balaam original: "Bileamo," the prophet from the Book of Numbers who was asked to curse the Israelites..

CONCERNING SIMON MAGUS, AND THE

condemnation of magic art and its books.

Chapter III.

Simon the Samaritan.

Acts 8.

Abdias, Bishop of Babylon, Book 1, The Conflicts of the Apostles.

I now proceed to Simon Magus Simon the Sorcerer, a figure from the New Testament (Acts 8) traditionally regarded as the first heretic., who shares the same name among our Germans as witches original: "lamiae," often translated as witches or hags.. From him arose a great number of heretics who, just as Jannes and Mambres According to tradition, the names of the Egyptian magicians who opposed Moses. resisted Moses, so they barked against Apostolic truth with fraudulent arts. This Simon the Samaritan was granted a statue in Rome under Claudius Caesar on account of this matter, with this inscription: To Simon the holy god original: "Simoni sancto deo." Historical scholars note this was likely a misidentification of a statue dedicated to the Sabine deity Semo Sancus.. Indeed, he had so demented the people of Samaria with the magic art that everyone from the least to the greatest hung upon him, saying: This man is the great power of God Acts 8:10.. After various deceptions by which he diligently tried to turn the people away from Peter’s doctrine, finally, as if flying in the air, carried by demons, he fell while Peter was praying, and perished miserably. Clement Clement of Rome, traditionally the author of the Pseudo-Clementine literature describing the journeys of Peter. in the Itinerary, Hegesippus in Book 3 of On the Destruction of Jerusalem, Chapter 2, and Ambrose in his Hexameron all recount his blasphemies at length.