According to the same authority sorcery was at this time extensively
practised by some of the highest dignitaries of the church, and five
or six popes in succession were notorious for these sacrilegious
practices. About the same period the papal chair was at its lowest
state of degradation; this dignity was repeatedly exposed for sale;
and the reign of Gerbert, a man of consummate abilities and
attainments, is almost the only redeeming feature in the century in
which he lived. At length the tiara became the purchase of an
ambitious family, which had already furnished two popes, in behalf of
a boy of twelve years of age, who reigned by the name of Benedict the
Ninth. This youth, as he grew up, contaminated his rule with every
kind of profligacy and debauchery. But even he, according to Benno,
was a pupil in the school of Silvester, and became no mean proficient
in the arts of sorcery. Among other things he caused the matrons of
Rome by his incantations to follow him in troops among woods and
mountains, being bewitched and their souls subdued by the irresistible
charms of his magic. [154]