Page:Aelfric's Lives of Saints Vol 1.djvu/483

 Dunstan, the  resolute,  in  the  archbishopric,

and AEthelwold  the  venerable,  and  others  like  them;

but Dunstan  and  AEthelwold  were  chosen  of  God,

and they,  most  of  all,  exhorted  men  to  [do]  God's  will,

and advanced  everything  good,  to  the  pleasure  of  God,

as the  miracles  testify  which  God  worketh  through  them.

Men should  also  take  notice,  that  many  sorcerers

cause manifold  delusions,  through  the  devil's  art,

as diviners  (?)  often  do,  and  deceive  men,

as if  they  would  verily  perform  a  desired  matter.

But it  is  nevertheless  a  delusion,  by  the  devil's  art;

and if  anyone  makes  the  sign  of  the  cross  over  it,  then  the  delusion ceases.

As to  this,  we  may  relate  a  true  instance.

A certain  holy  father  was  named  Macarius,

a dweller  in  the  desert,  working  many  miracles,

a man  of  monastic  life. Then was  a  maiden  transformed

by the  delusion  of  sorcerers,  but  only  in  an  illusory  manner.

The maiden  was  transformed  so  as  to  seem  a  mare,

and it  appeared  to  all  who  looked  upon  her

as if  she  were  a  mare,  not  of  human  kind.

Then her  parents  led  her  to  Macarius,

and he  straightway  asked  what  they  wanted  with  her.

Her parents  said  to  him:  '  This  mare  that  thou  seest

was [once]  our  daughter,  a  worshipful  maiden ;

but accursed  sorcerers  have  turned  her  into  a  mare.

Now we  entreat  thee,  master,  to  pray  for  her

and to  transform  her  again  to  what  she  was  before.'

Then Macarius  said  thus  to  her  parents,

'I see  this  maiden  in  human  form,

and she  is  not  transformed,  as  ye  imagine  her  to  be,

and she  hath  nothing  about  her  of  the  nature  of  a  horse,

but she  is  so  made  to  appear  in  your  sight