DÆMON, (Encycl.) This word is by some derived from the Greek δαιμων "knowing, or intelligent;" by some from δαιμάς "to distribute." Either of these derivations agrees with the office ascribed to dæmons by the ancient heathens, as the spirits entrusted with the inspection and government of mankind. According to the philosophers, dæmons held a middle rank between the celestial gods and men on earth, and carried on all intercourse between them; conveying the addresses of men to the gods, and divine benefits to men. Many were of opinion that the celestial divinities did not concern themselves with human affairs, but left the management of them entirely to these subaltern deities. Hence they became the objects of worship, though those who were more immediately so were the spirits of men who were thought to have become dæmons or deities after departing from their bodies. Hesiod and other poets who have written concerning the ancient history or traditions on which the public faith was founded, assert, that the men of the golden age, who were very good, became dæmons after death, and dispensers of good things to mankind. In this sense, according to some, the word dæmon (though constantly translated devil) is also frequently taken in Scripture, both in the Old and New
Testament. Besides the two foregoing kinds of dæmons, the fathers as well as philosophers asserted the existence of another, viz. such as spring from the congress of superior beings with women; and in the theology of the fathers, these were the worst of all.