Page:Thoughts on art and life.djvu/218

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transforming men into cats, wolves and other beasts, although they who affirm such things are the first to be transformed into beasts. And certainly if such necromancy existed, as is believed by lower intellects, there is nothing on the earth which would be so effectual both as regards the service and detriment of man; because if it is true that this art has the power to disturb the calm serenity of the atmosphere, changing it into night and producing sparks and winds, with fearful thunder and lightnings that fly through the darkness, and overthrowing high buildings with violent winds and uprooting forests and striking armies and shattering and overwhelming them, and producing, in addition to this, devastating storms which rob the peasants of the fruits of their toil, what kind of warfare is there so deadly to the enemy I Who in naval warfare can be compared with him who commands the winds and generates storms which ruin and sink any fleet whatsoever? Certainly he who could dispose of such violent forces would be the lord of nations, and no human skill could resist his deadly power. The hidden treasures and gems concealed in the body of the earth would be manifest unto him. He would let himself be borne through the air from the east to the west, and through all the opposed regions of the universe. But why should I proceed further? What thing is there which could not be effected by such an art? Nothing, save

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