CHAPTER XVIII

THE CONFESSION OF CYPRIAN AND SOME SIMILAR STORIES The _Confession_ of Cyprian—His initiation into mysteries—His thorough study of nature, divination, and magic—The lore of Egypt—And of Chaldea—Cyprian’s practice of magic at Antioch—A Christian virgin defeats the magic of the demons—Summary of Cyprian’s picture of magic—Christians accused of magic—A story from Epiphanius—Joseph’s experience of miracle and magic—Legend of St. James and Hermogenes the magician—Other contests of apostles and magicians in _The Golden Legend_. [Sidenote: The _Confession_ of Cyprian.] To the accounts of the contests of Peter and Paul with Simon Magus which were recorded in our last chapter we shall add in this some other encounters of early Christians with magicians, and to the picture of magic contained in the Pseudo-Clementines that presented by Cyprian in his _Confession_. If Simon Magus died impenitent in the midst of his magic, very different was the end of Cyprian, a magician by profession in the third century, who, after being educated from childhood in heathen mysteries and the magic art, repented and was baptized, became bishop of Antioch, and finally achieved a martyr’s crown. In the _Confession_[1861] current under his name and which most critics agree was composed before the time of Constantine[1862] is described his education in and subsequent practice of magic. For us perhaps the most interesting feature of his account of his education is the association of magic, not only with pagan mysteries and the operations of demons, but also with natural science. [Sidenote: His initiation into mysteries.] “I am Cyprian,” says the author, “who from a tender age was consecrated a gift to Apollo and while yet a child was initiated into the arts of the dragon.” When not yet seven years old, he entered the mysteries of Mithra, and at ten his parents enrolled him a citizen at Athens, and he carried a torch in the mysteries of Demeter and “ministered to the dragon on the citadel of Pallas.” When not yet fifteen, he also visited Mount Olympus for forty days, and “was initiated into sonorous speeches and noisy narrations.”[1863] There he saw in phantasy trees and herbs which seemed to be moved by the presence of the gods, spirits who regulated the passage of time, and choruses of demons who sang, while others waged war or plotted, deceived, and permeated.[1864] He saw the phalanx of each god and goddess, and how from Mount Olympus as from a palace spirits were despatched to every nation of the earth. He was fed only after sunset and upon fruits, and was taught the efficacy of each of them by seven hierophants. [Sidenote: His thorough study of nature, divination, and magic.] Cyprian’s parents were determined that he should learn whatever there was in earth and air and sea, and not merely the natural generation and corruption of herbs and trees and bodies, but also the virtues implanted in all these, which the prince of this world impressed upon them in order that he might oppose the divine constitution. Cyprian also participated at Argos in the sacred rites of Hera, and saw the union of air with ether and of ether with air, also of earth with water, and water with air. He penetrated the Troad and to Artemis Tauropolos who is at Lacedaemon to learn how matter was confused and divided “and the profundities of sinister and cruel legends.” From the Phrygians he learned liver divination; among the barbarians he studied auspices and the significance of the movements of quadrupeds, and how to interpret omens and the language of birds, and the sounds made by every kind of wood and stone, or by the dead in tombs and the creaking of doors. He became acquainted with the palpitations of the limbs, the movement of the blood and pulse in bodies, all the extensions and corollaries of ratios and numbers, diseases simulated as well as natural, “and oaths which are heard yet are not audible, and pacts for discord.” There was, in fine, nothing whatever in earth or sea or air that he did not know, whether it was a matter of science or phantasy, of mechanics or artifice, “even down to the magic translation of writings and other things of that sort.” [Sidenote: The lore of Egypt.] At twenty Cyprian was admitted to the shrines at ancient Memphis in Egypt and learned what communication and relationship existed between demons and earthly things and “in what stars and laws and objects they delight.” He witnessed imitations of earthquakes, rain, and storms at sea. He saw the souls of giants held in darkness and fancied that they sustained the earth as a load on their shoulders. He saw the communications of serpents with demons, ideas of transfigurations, impious piety, science without reason, iniquitous justice, and things topsy-turvy generally. Besides the forms of various sins and vices, such as fornication and avarice, which suggest the medieval personification of the seven deadly sins, he saw the three hundred and sixty-five varieties of ailments, “and the empty glory and the empty virtue” with which the priests of Egypt had deceived the Greek philosophers. [Sidenote: And of Chaldea.] At thirty Cyprian left Egypt for Chaldea in order to acquire its lore concerning air, fire, and light. Here he was instructed in the qualities of stars as well as of herbs, and their “choruses like drawn-up battle lines.” He was taught the house and relationships of each star and its appropriate food and drink. Also the meetings of spirits with men in light, the three hundred and sixty-five demons who divide as many parts of the ether between them, and the sacrifices, libations, and words appropriate to each. Cyprian’s education had now advanced to such a point that the devil himself hailed him, mere youth as he was, as a new Jambres, a skilful and reliable practitioner, and worthy of communication with himself. Cyprian again explains at this point that in all the stars and plants and other works of God the devil has bound to himself likenesses in preparation to wage war with God and His angels, but these likenesses are shadowy images, not solid substances. The devil’s rain is not water, his fire does not burn, his fish are not food, and his gold is not genuine. The devil obtains the material for his products from the vapors of sacrifices. [Sidenote: Cyprian’s practice of magic at Antioch.] Cyprian now returned from Chaldea and wrought marvels at Antioch “like one of the ancients,” and “made many experiments of magic and became celebrated as a magician and philosopher endowed with vast knowledge of things invisible.” Men came to him to be taught magic or to secure their ends by his assistance. And he easily helped them all, some to the gratification of pleasure, others to triumph over their adversaries or even to slay their rivals. His conscience sometimes pricked him at the evil deeds which he thus wrought with the aid of demons, but as yet he did not doubt that the devil was all powerful. [Sidenote: A Christian virgin defeats the magic of the demons.] But then the case of the Christian girl Justina revealed to him the weakness and fraud of the devil. Determined to dedicate herself to a life of virginity, Justina repulsed the love of the youth Aglaïdes, who sought Cyprian’s assistance. But in vain: the demon failed to alter Justina’s determination and was not even able to give another girl the form of Justina and so deceive Aglaïdes. Justina was shown the form of her lover, but she called upon the Virgin, and the devil was forced to vanish in smoke. Nor did disease and other plagues and torments affect her resolution. Her parents, however, were similarly afflicted until they besought her to marry Aglaïdes, but instead she cured them of their ailments by the sign of the cross. The devil then inflicted a plague on the entire community and delivered an oracle to the effect that the pest could be stayed only by the marriage of Justina and Aglaïdes, but her prayers turned the wrath of the public from herself against Cyprian. When the magician in disgust cursed the demon for the evil pass to which he had thus brought him, the demon made a ferocious attack upon him, from which Cyprian saved himself just in the nick of time by calling upon God for aid and making the sign of the cross. He then publicly confessed his crimes as a magician, burned his books of magic, and was baptized into the Christian faith.[1865] [Sidenote: Summary of Cyprian’s picture of magic.] Cyprian’s _Confession_ thus represents magic as a very elaborate art, requiring long study and a thorough knowledge of natural objects and processes. The magician has his books, and he must also be able to read the book of nature. Astrology and other arts of divination are integral parts of magic. But magic is also represented as the work of evil spirits. This involves not merely a Neo-Platonic sort of association of demons with natural forces and regions of earth or sky, but also the specific association of the devil for evil purposes with objects in nature, a doctrine which we shall find again in the works of a medieval saint, Hildegard of Bingen. Furthermore, magic aids in the commission of crime and is dangerous even to the magician against whom the devil may turn. While magic involves study of nature and use of natural forces and associations, and we also hear of “many experiments of magic,” it is scarcely represented as operating scientifically in the _Confession_. It is mystic, confused, shadowy, imitative, imaginary, lacking in solidity and reality, fraudulent and deceptive. Finally, this complex art, this universal system of knowledge, is easily balked and overthrown by the far simpler counter-magic of Christianity, by such methods as a prayer to the Virgin, calling on the name of God, or merely making the sign of the cross. [Sidenote: Christians accused of magic.] Such counter-magic was apt to be regarded as magic by the pagans, and the account of the martyrdom of Cyprian states that the devil, that “very bad serpent,” suggested to the Count of the Orient that Cyprian, together with a certain virgin who is assumed to be Justina, was destroying the ancient worship of the gods by his magic tricks as well as stirring up the orient and the whole world by his epistles. He was accordingly arrested and finally beheaded. According to one account he and Justina were first placed together in a cauldron of tallow and pitch over a fire. But when they sang a hymn, the flames left them uninjured and instead shot out and caused the death of an unreformed magician who happened to be standing near by.[1866] Another case of Christian martyrs who were probably accused of magic is found in Spain about 287 A. D. Two Christian sisters who were dealers in pottery refused to sell their earthenware for purposes of pagan worship. One day, as a pagan religious procession passed by their shop, the crowd trampled upon their wares which were exposed for sale. But thereupon the idol which was being borne in the procession fell and broke in pieces. “Being probably suspected of magical practices,” the two sisters were arrested; one died in prison and the other was strangled; whereupon the bishop rescued their bones, and these were cherished as the remains of martyrs.[1867] [Sidenote: A story from Epiphanius.] Epiphanius in the next century tells a story similar to that of Cyprian, Aglaïdes, and Justina, of a youth who was led astray by evil companions who employed magic arts, love philters, and incantations to force free women to gratify their licentious desires. By means of magic the youth went through the air to a very beautiful woman in the public bath, but she repelled him by making the sign of the cross. His companions then tried to devise some more powerful magic for his benefit, and took him at sunset to a cemetery full of caves where for three successive nights the wizards vainly plied their arts in the attempt to gratify his lust. But in every instance they were foiled by the name of Christ and the sign of the cross.[1868] [Sidenote: Joseph’s experience of miracle and magic.] Joseph, the guardian of this same young man, finally became converted to Christianity after Christ had appeared repeatedly to him in dreams and cured him of diseases and after he himself, by employing the name of Jesus, had cured a man of a demoniacal possession which made him go shamelessly about the town in a nude state. After his conversion, Joseph started to complete as a Christian church an unfinished structure in Tiberias called the Adrianaion, which the citizens previously had tried to convert into a public bath. When the Jews endeavored to ruin his undertaking by bewitching the furnaces which he had erected for the preparation of quick-lime, he counteracted their magic by making the sign of the cross, sprinkling his furnaces with holy water, and saying in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, “Let there be power in this water to counteract all pharmacy and magic employed by these men and to instill sufficient energy into the fire to complete the house of the Lord.” With that his fires blazed up violently.[1869] [Sidenote: Legend of St. James and Hermogenes the magician.] Very similar both to the _Confession_ of Cyprian and the story of Simon Magus is the legend of St. James the Great and Hermogenes the magician, which is found in _The Golden Legend_ and which was often reproduced in medieval stained glass windows.[1870] James converted to Christianity a disciple of Hermogenes whom the magician had sent against him when he was preaching in Judea. When the angry wizard cast a spell over his erstwhile disciple, the latter was freed by means of St. James’s cloak. When the magician sent demons to fetch both the convert and the saint, James made them bring Hermogenes to him instead, but then set him free, telling him that Christians returned good for evil. Hermogenes now feared the vengeance that the demons would take upon himself, and so James gave his staff to him to protect himself with. Soon afterwards Hermogenes threw all his books of magic into the sea and was baptized. [Sidenote: Other contests of apostles and magicians in _The Golden Legend_.] “In _The Golden Legend_,” in fact, as Mâle says, “almost all the apostles have to contend with magicians. But it is St. Simon and St. Jude who strive with the most formidable of sorcerers, and they challenge him even in the very sanctuary of magic art, the temple of the Sun at Suanir, near Babylon. Undismayed by the science of Zoroaster and Aphaxad, they foretell the future, they cause a new-born babe to speak, they subdue tigers and serpents, and from a statue they cast out a demon, which shows itself in the shape of a black Ethiopian and flees uttering raucous cries.”[1871] If this last exorcism reminds us somewhat of the exploits of Apollonius of Tyana, still more do the performances of St. Andrew, who “must surpass all the marvels of the magicians before he can convert Asia and Greece. He drives away seven demons who in the shape of seven great dogs desolate the town of Nicaea, and he exorcises a spirit which dwells in the _thermae_ and is wont to strangle the bathers.”[1872]