The antichrist and the apocalyptic beast
of a prominent family of that region and that the whole house , yes sometimes the whole village was really enduring an infernal torment , and still , it was not the fault of the man since he himself was the one who was tormented the most .
[ 4 ] At first I thought that this was the silliness of those people , and also that it was a smart trick of the priests . I thought that they picked out a man and had used him with the help of his probably learned rage in order to bind the people who were lingering for wonders and to make them to believe more in them . But soon after that , when I could convince myself with all my sense organs that the rage of the man could certainly not be natural because his powerful expressions became so enormous that the so-called works of Hercules were only a child ’ s game compared to it , and I fully began to be convinced myself in the presence of an evil spirit in that man .
[ 5 ] The 2 priests who knew very well , based on symptoms that appeared before , what was happening with the unfortunate man , said to the others – only strong men : ‘ The moment of raging and shouting will soon begin . Therefore , fetter and tie him up immediately now with the strongest ropes and chains .’ Because the evil spirit would only leave the man when he perhaps could not break his well-consecrated ropes and chains .
[ 6 ] Then the man was tied up with ropes and chains in such a way that a 100 Herculeses would not be able to move . Then the priests and also the other people went back and stood at least 100 paces away from the tied up man and they asked me to do the same . I also did what they advised me .
[ 7 ] When we stood less than 20 paces away of the said distance , the man stood up as fast as an arrow with a horrible confused outcry and in one moment he tore the ropes and chains into pieces . Then , horribly crying , he jumped in one stretch from the ground unbelievably high into the air . Besides that , he picked up more than a 100 pounds of heavy stones that he flung all around as if they were light beans . When this raging and shouting had lasted for about 1 hour , the man sank down to the ground completely unconscious and we could come near to him again .
[ 8 ] The 2 priests asked him to tell them how he had fared . He did not know anything about his raging however , but he told them only about a vision in which he discovered that he was in a very beautiful surrounding . During this short story the sound of his voice was very soft , as from a patiently suffering mother , but soon the sound and the language changed . As by a magical power his mouth grew wide open and from a wide opened mouth a strange thundering voice in Greek reached our ears with more or less the following expressions :
[ 9 ] ‘ O miserable mosquitoes who are like human larvae , do you want to chase me out of this hired house ? All Roman armies are not able to do that . Before one stone was ready for the construction of Rome , yes very long before that , I was the famous king Cyaxares , the first with that name . I have defeated the Scythes , I went to war with Lydia . My second daughter Mandane became the wife of the king of the Persians and the mother of the famous Cyrus whose father was called Cambyses . You do not need to know more .
[ 10 ] However , this house of flesh , which I am now inhabiting according to my own pleasure and out of which I will not allow you to chase me out , is descendant of my blood , and therefore , I am possessing it rightly . That is why all your efforts to chase me out are useless . I can act in this house of mine as I wish .’
[ 11 ] After this remarkable conversation he still uttered a few terrible curses and threats to the 2 priests . He pulled the man a few times to and fro , after which he calmed down , felt very weak and wanted to have something to eat . When he became a little stronger after taking the food , they asked him again if he knew anything of what he had said before . He denied it with his natural soft voice , but he remembered that he slept and that in his dream he was amidst white clothed young men .
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