One day Jesus came with His disciples in a boat to the country of the Gadarenes, near Galilee. They landed near the tombs, that is, caverns cut into the rock, where the dead were buried. And there met them a man, who, for a long time, had been possessed by many unclean spirits. He lived in the tombs and wore no clothes. He had been so fierce and wild that his friends had been obliged to chain him up, but he had burst his fetters, and the devils had driven him out to the tombs.

Jesus bade the unclean spirits to come out of the man. And when the man caught sight of Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before Him, saying, "What have I to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God most high? I beseech Thee to torment me not."

And Jesus asked him his name. And he said, "Legion," because many devils were in him. They besought Jesus that He would not make them go into the sea, but would let them enter into a herd of swine that were feeding on the cliffs close by. He suffered them to do so, and the devils went out of the man and entered into the pigs, and the whole herd ran violently over the cliff into the water and were drowned. And when the herdsmen saw what was done, they fled into the city and told all the people. Then the people came out to Jesus, and they saw the man that had been possessed, clothed and in his right mind, sitting at the feet of Jesus. And they that had seen it told them by what means the man had been healed, and they were afraid. The man out of whom the devils had departed, besought Him that he might stay with Jesus, but He sent him away, saying, "Return to thy house, and show what great things God hath done unto thee." And he went his way and published throughout the city what great things Jesus had done unto him.

[Illustration: THE MAN POSSESSED BY DEVILS.]