Charles Ellicott Commentary Mark 5:4

"because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been rent asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: and no man had strength to tame him." — Mark 5:4 (ASV)

Bound with fetters and chains.—These were not necessarily of metal. The two processes of snapping chains by one convulsive movement and wearing away (not “breaking”) chains by friction rather suggest the idea of ropes or cords, as in the case of Samson (Judges 15:13). In Psalms 149:8 the “chains” seem distinguished from the “links of iron.” The vivid fullness of the whole description is eminently characteristic of St. Mark’s style.