The statue is made to speak, in order to work on the credulity and awe of the worshippers. The trick was well within the reach of contemporary magic (cf. Valer. Maxim, i. 8. 3 5), and later tradition attributed it to Simon Magus (Clem. Recogn. iii. 47, cf. Clem. Hom. ii. 32), while similar ventriloquism was practised by Apollonius of Tyana and Egyptian sorcerers at Caligula's court. cf. Lucian's αὐτόφωνοι χρησμοὶ (Alex. 26). ἀποκτανθῶσιν, cf. the scutcheon of Captain Pope in Bunyan's Holy War “the stake, the flame, and the good man in it”.

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Old Testament