Page:Modern Greek folklore and ancient Greek religion - a study in survivals.djvu/162

 proved to be pagan; or else it indicates a difference in the mode of injury by two classes of supernatural foes, the difference between 'seizure' and 'possession.' Certainly no story is known to me of 'possession' by Nereids in the same sense as by devils. The latter take up their abode within a man and are subject to exorcism; the seizure by Nereids is conceived rather as an external act of violence. This is made clear by several terms locally used of seizure. 'He has been struck' ([Greek: barethêke] or [Greek: chtypêthêke]), 'he has been wounded' ([Greek: labôthêke]), 'he has had hands laid upon him' ([Greek: engichtêke]) are typical expressions, to which is sometimes added 'by Nereids' or 'by evil women .' Such phrases clearly convict the Nereids of assault and battery rather than of undue mental influence upon their victims.

Moreover the Nereids, and with them all the surviving pagan deities, are pictured by the peasant in corporeal form, whereas the angels—and there are bad angels, who 'possess' men, as well as good—are in common speech as well as in the formal dedications of churches known as [Greek: hoi asômatoi], 'the Bodiless ones.' There is then an essential difference in the nature of these two classes of beings, which justifies the supposed distinction in their methods of working. For 'possession' proper is the injury inflicted, or rather infused, by spirits pure and simple; external 'seizure' is the work of corporeal beings. And this distinction was recognised in comparatively early times; for John of Damascus in speaking of [Greek: stringai], a peculiarly maleficent kind of witch (of whom more anon), notes as singular the fact that sometimes they appear clothed in bodily form and sometimes as mere spirits ([Greek: meta sômatos ê gymnê tê psychê]). It is then to the second interpretation of the phrase [Greek: echei ap' exô], as implying external and bodily violence, that the balance of argument, I think, inclines.

The precautions which may be taken against injury by Nereids have already been briefly noticed. Amulets, garlic, the sign of the cross, the invocation of saints—all these are common and suitable prophylactics. But above all, in the actual moment when imminent danger is suspected, the lips, as Phaedrus was reminded by Socrates, and also the eyes should be close shut; for in general the principle obtains that the particular organ