Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 3.djvu/404

 388 SORCERY AND OCCULT ARTS. The proceedings in the case recite that a certain Penhaiben, a farm superintendent of cattle, when passing by chance the Khen, or hall in the royal palace where the rolls of mystic lore were kept, was seized with a desire to obtain access to their secrets for his personal advantage. Procuring the assistance of a worker in stone named Atirma ? he penetrated into the sacred recesses of the Khen and secured a book of dangerous formulas belonging to his master, Rameses III. Mastering their use, he soon was able to perform all the feats of the doctors of mysteries. He composed charms which, when carried into the royal palace, corrupted the concubines of the Pharaoh ; he caused hatred between men, fascinated or tor- mented them, paralyzed their limbs, and in short, as the report of the tribunal states, " He sought and found the real way to execute all the abominations and all the wickedness that his heart con- ceived, and he performed them, with other great crimes, the hor- ror of every god and goddess. Consequently he has endured the great punishment, even unto death, which the divine writings say that he merited." * Hebrew belief, which necessarily served as a standard for or- thodox Christianity, drew from these various sources an ample store of magic practitioners. There was the At, or charmer ; the Asshajph, Kasshaph, Mekassheph, the enchanter or sorcerer; the Kosem, or diviner ; the Ob, Shoel Ob, Baal Ob, the consulter with evil spirits, or necromancer (the Witch of Endor was a Baalaih Ob) ; the Chober Chaber, or worker with spells and ligatures ; the Doresh el Hctmmathim, or consulter with the dead ; the Jfeonen, or augur, divining by the drift of clouds or voices of birds — the " ob- server of times " of the A. Y. ; the Menachesh, or augur by en- chantments ; the Jiddoni, or wizard ; the Chakani, or sage ; the Chartom, or hierogrammatist ; the Mahgim, or mutterers of spells ; and in later times there were the Istaginen, or astrologer ; the Charori, or soothsayer ; the Magush, Amgosh, or enchanter ; the Eaten, or magus; the Kegida, or necromancer; and the Pithoni, inspired by evil spirits. There was here an ample field in which Christian superstition could go astray. Greece contributed her share, although of strictly Goetic magic nissen, Droit Crirninel des Anciens, II. 222 sqq.
 * Talmud Babli, Kiddushin, fol. 49 I (Wagenseilii Sota, pp. 502-3). — Tho-