Hippolytus

“ Just as a physician, who has no exact knowledge of the science, might yet, seeing a patient past cure, tell of his death, though he made an error as to the hour, so, too, the demon, knowing the wrath of God by Saul’s deeds, and by this very attempt to consult the sorceress, foretells his defeat and his death at the same time, though in error as to the day of his death. ”

“ For how could a demon call back the soul, I say not of a righteous man merely, but of any one whatever, when it had gone, and was tarrying one knew not where? But he says, how then was the woman dismayed, and how did she see in an extraordinary way men ascending? ”

“ Footnotes ↑ A fragment from the tractate of Hippolytus, On the Sorceress (ventriloquist) , or On Saul and the Witch, 1 Sam. xxviii. From the Vatican ms. cccxxx, in Allat., De Engastr., edited by Simon, in the Acts of the Martyrs of Ostia, p. 160, Rome, 1795.↑ [Rather “god,” the plural of excellence, Elohim.] ”