The Laplanders had their Magical Tyre, which was a Ball about the Bigness of a small Apple, (made of Moss, or Hair of Beasts) which, they say, is quickned and moved by a particular Art; they persuade themselves, that by this Tyre, they can send Serpents, or what they please, into any Man, to torment him. When this Ball is thrown, it goes like a Whirlwind, and as swift as a pointed Arrow[[93]].
[93]. Schefferus’s History of Lapland, cap. xi. p. 60.
In the Book of Daniel, mention is made of several kinds of Magicians in Chaldea, under King Nebuchadnezzar; one is Mecasphim, a word which by St. Jerome, and the Greeks is translated Malefici, Inchanters, such People as make use of noxious Herbs and Drugs, the Blood of Victims, and Bones of the Dead, for their superstitious Operations[[94]].
[94]. Calmet’s Hist. Crit.—Dictionary.
“The Tyrants of Japonia invented a strange Punishment for those who confessed Christ.——They hung them with their Heads downwards, half their Bodies into a large Hole digged in the Earth, which they filled with Snakes, Lizards, and other poisonous Vermin; but even those (says my Right Reverend Author, the learned and pious Bishop Taylor) were better Companions than those infernal Dragons in the Pit of Hell[[95]].”
The Romans, when they punish’d any for Parricide, to express their Abhorrence of so heinous a Murder, they shut him up in a Sack, with a Serpent, an Ape, and a Cock.
[95]. Contemplations, Book ii. chap. 6.
To these Instances, I shall add, that the Attendants of Pluto, Prince of the Infernal Regions, are represented in a Serpentine Habit, viz. the Furies, Harpies——
In his Train, are three Diræ, Eumenides, or Furies, viz. Alecto, Megæra, and Tysiphone, whose Heads are covered with long and dreadful Snakes, instead of Hair, with Whips, Chains, and flaming Torches, in their Hands, to punish the Guilty. These also attended the Throne of Jove, and were accounted to be Messengers of the Gods, whose Office it was to execute their Decrees in the Infliction of Calamities upon Mortals.
These Furies had their Temples and Worshippers, and were described in Figures of so frightful a Form, that they durst scarce mention their Names without Horror.