Strongly influenced as were the Jews by the exact division of the duodecimal period between Good and Evil, affirmed by the Persians, they never lost sight of the ultimate supremacy of Jehovah. Though Satan had gradually become a voluntary genius of evil, he still had to receive permission to afflict, as in the case of Job, and during the lifetime of Paul appears to have been still denied that 'power of death' which is first asserted by the unknown author of the Epistle to the Hebrews. [181] Satan's especial office was regarded as the infliction of disease. Paul delivers the incestuous Corinthian to Satan 'for the destruction of the flesh,' and he also attributed the sickness and death of many to their communicating unworthily. [182] He also recognises his own 'thorn in the flesh' as 'an angel from Satan,' though meant for his moral advantage. [183] A penitential Psalm (Assyrian) reads as follows:-- O my Lord! my sins are many, my trespasses are great; and the wrath of the gods has plagued me with disease, and with sickness and sorrow. I fainted, but no one stretched forth his hand! I groaned, but no one drew nigh! I cried aloud, but no one heard! O Lord, do not abandon thy servant! In the waters of the great storm seize his hand! The sins which he has committed turn them to righteousness. [184] This Psalm would hardly be out of place in the English burial-service, which deplores death as a visitation of divine wrath. Wherever such an idea prevails, the natural outcome of it is a belief in demons of disease. In ancient Egypt--following the belief in Ra the Sun, from whose eyes all pleasing things proceeded, and Set, from whose eyes came all noxious things,--from the baleful light of Set's eyes were born the Seven Hathors, or Fates, whose names are recorded in the Book of the Dead. Mr. Fox Talbot has translated 'the Song of the Seven Spirits:'-- They are seven! they are seven! In the depths of ocean they are seven! In the heights of heaven they are seven! In the ocean-stream in a palace they were born! Male they are not: female they are not! Wives they have not: children are not born to them! Rule they have not: government they know not! Prayers they hear not! They are seven! they are seven! twice over they are seven! [185] These demons have a way of herding together; the Assyrian tablets abundantly show that their occupation was manifested by diseases, physical and mental. One prescription runs thus:-- The god (...) shall stand by his bedside: Those seven evil spirits he shall root out, and shall expel them from his body: And those seven shall never return to the sick man again!