soundest and best part of men did hold and maintain And amongst other things he did ever shew a minde and disposition in the greatest part of his bookes to call in doubt and question the apparition of Specters In the which notwithstanding he doth mervelously repugne and contrary himselfe not knowing if there were any specters or if there were none somtimes alledging the authority of Psellus sometimes that of Facius Cardanus his owne father Both which did constantly maintaine the Specters and Apparitions of divells and especially Facius Cardanus who had not onely one spirit and familiar but seaven all at one time which did reveale vnto him and acquaint him plainely with many strange and goodly mervailes and sometimes affirming that all whatsoever was spoken and reported of the Apparition of spirits and Specters was nothing else but ieasts tales and leasings But this shall suffice for the discussing of Cardan his reasons and opinions Let vs now therefore proceede to refute the opinion of those which affirme that the Angells and divells cannot take vpon them a body like vnto this of ours CHAP. V. Of the Arguments of those which deny that the Angells and Divells can take vnto them a Bodie THey which doe deny that the Angells and divells can take vnto them a body do not ayme at the marke to deny their essence as do the Saduces but they doe it onely to disprove and impugne their Apparition For it is a good consequent If the Angells and divells take not vpon them any body then can they not appeare And if one should reply vnto them and say That in our spirit and vnderstanding the Angells and divells may give some shew and token of their presence To this they have their exception readie That things spirituall and intelligible and all sorts of intelligences doe represent themselves by things that are sensible Wee will see therefore by what reasons they indevour to proove First objection to proove that Angells and divells cannot take vnto them a body that an Angell or a divell cannot take a body vnto them No body say they can be vnited to an incorporall substance but onely that it may have an essence and a motion by the meanes of that substance But the Angells and diuells cannot have a body vnited in regard of any essence for in so doing we must conclude that their bodies should be naturally vnited vnto them which is altogither vntrue and therefore it remayneth that they cannot be vnited vnto a bodie but onely in regard of the motion which is a reason of no sufficiencie for the approving of their opinion For thereof would follow an absurditie in regarde of the Angels to wit That they might take all those bodies that are moved by them which is a verie great and grosse errour For the Angell did move the tongue of Balaams Asse and yet he entred not in his tongue And therefore it cannot be said that an Angell or a Divell can take a bodie vnto them Answere to the first Argument or obiection To this Argument I answere That true it is that an Angell and a Divell cannot to speake properly take vnto them every bodie that is moved For to take a bodie signifieth to adhere vnto the bodie Now the Angels and the Divels do take vnto them a bodie not to vnite it to their nature and to incorporate it together with their essence as hee that taketh any kinde of meate for sustenance much lesse to vnite the same to their person as the sonne of God tooke vpon him the humane nature But they doe it onely that they may visibly represent themselves vnto the sight of men And in this sort the Angels Divels are said to take a bodie such as is apt fit for their apparition Cap. 15. calest Hierachiae as appeareth by the authoritie of Denys Ariopagyte who writeth that by the corporal forms the properties of Angels are knowne and discerned The second Argument Againe they say That if the Angels and Divels doe take a bodie it is not for any necessitie that they have but onely to instruct and exhort vs to live well as do the Angels or to deceive and destroy vs as do the Divels Now both to the one and the other the imaginarie vision or the tentation is sufficient and therefore it seemeth that it is not needfull they should take veto them any bodie Answer to the second Argument I answere that not onely the imaginarie vision of Angels is necessary for our instruction but that also which is corporall and bodily as we shall show anone when we intreate of the Apparition of Angels And as concerning the Divels God doth permit them both visibly and invisibly to tempt vs some to their salvation and some to their damnation Moreover they thus argue The third Argument Li. 3. ca. 11. 12. That God appeared vnto the Patriarchs as is to be seene in the old Testament and the good Angels likewise as Saint Augustine proveth in his Bookes of the Trimitie Now wee may not say that God tooke vpon him any body except onely in that mysterie of his Incarnation And therefore it is needlesse to affirme that the Angels which appeare vnto men may take vpon them a bodie Answer to their third Argument I answere as doth Saint Augustine who sayth That all the apparitions which were in the olde Testament were made by the ministerie of Angels who formed and shaped vnto themselves certaine shapes and figures imaginarie and corporall by which they might reduce and drawe vnto God the soule and spirite of him that sawe them as it is possible that by figures which are sensible men may be drawne and lifted vp in spirit and contemplation vnto God And therefore wee may well say that the Angels did take vnto them a bodie when they appeared in such apparitions But now God is sayde to have appeared because God was the butte and marke whervnto by vision of those bodies the Angels did endevour and seeke to lift vp vnto God the soules of men And this is the cause that the Scripture sayth That in these Apparitions sometimes God appeared and sometimes the Angels Their fourth Argument Furthermore they make this obiection Like as it is agreeing naturally to the soule to be vnited to the bodie so not to be vnited vnto a bodie is proper and naturall vnto the Angels and Divels Now the soule cannot bee separated from the bodie when it will Therefore the Angels and Divels also cannot take vnto them a bodie when they will For answere whereof I confesse that everie thing borne and ingendred hath not any power over his being Answer to their fourth Argument for all the power of any thing floweth from the essence thereof or presupposeth an essence And because the soule by reason of her being is vnited vnto the body as the forme thereof it is not in her puissance to deliver herselfe from the vnion of
thing and in working man in it which is proper vnto God onely Howbeit that God doth not make a part in the essence of any thing For God is a substance seperated and abstracted solely and onely in it selfe And for the further interpretation of Saint Ierome and the Glose which say That the divell is not in images wee may affirme that they do privily and closely reprehend the false opinion of the Paynims and Idolaters who made but one thing of the Idoll were it of wood brasse or stone and of the vncleane spirit that remained within it and by that meanes would have made a living substance of that which in it owne nature was sencelesse and without life not having eyther hands to touch withall or feete to goe on or tongue to speake with except such onely as the divell did seeme to give vnto it by his deceitfull illusions Their fourteenth Argument To make short they obiect this argument also If the Angells and divells do take to them any body eyther they are vnited vnto The whole body or to some Part thereof If they be vnited onely to a Part thereof then can they not moove the other part but onely by the meanes of that part which they do moove But this cannot possibly be for otherwise the body assumed should have such parts as should have the Organs determined to the motion which is proper to none but living bodies But if the Angells and divells be Vnited immediately to the whole body it behooveth them then also to possesse everie part of that body which they have taken to them and so by that meanes they should be in many places which is proper and appertaining to God onely And therefore the Angells and divells cannot take any body vnto them Answer to their fourteenth Argument To this argument answer may be made in this manner That the Angell or divell so taking any body vpon him is wholy in the whole body which it assumeth or else in a part thereof as the soule is in the body For albeit he be not the forme of the body which it assumeth as is the soule yet so it is that he is the moover thereof Now it behooveth that the moover and the thing mooved should be together And it is nothing to the purpose to say that an Angell or divell filling a body whole and entyre of substance can be in divers places for the whole body assumed by an Angell or divell is not but in one place onely albeit the same be admitted to have many members and many parts Thus farre have I done my best both to set downe and to refute all the reasons and arguments obiected by those who deny that Angells and divells can assume and take vnto them a body to the intent that from hence forth their mouths might be stopped and that they may not esteeme as fables the histories of Specters and of the Apparitions of spirits Of the opinion of the Iewish Rabbins touching the Apparitions mentioned in the old Testament But before I come to conclude this discourse I may not forget to tell you how that many of the Rabbins and Iewes which have taken vpon them to interpret the holy Scriptures have held opinion and beene of the beliefe that those Angells which appeared to the Patriarkes and Prophets did not appeare in any body nor did assume vnto them any body to make themselves visible And of this opinion amongst others was Rabbi Moses one of the most learned Rabbins of the Iewes who said That all that which is read and recorded in the olde Testament of the Apparition of Angells did come by an imaginarie vision that is to say sometimes in sleeping and sometimes in waking But this position as Saint Thomas of Aquin calleth it The Aquin quest de Miracalis Arti. 7. cannot prevaile against the truth of the Scriptures for by the phrase and manner of speeches which are vsuall in the bookes of the old Testament it is easie to know and discerne a difference that which is signified and declared to have Appeared purely and simply to our eyes from that which is said to bee done by the meanes of a Propheticall vision For when it ought to be vnderstoodâ— that any Apparition was made by way of vision there are some words put downe and insert which doe properly appertaine to the vision such as the Scriptures do intend as in Ezechiel Ezechiel ce 8. the spirit of the Lord saith he lifted me vp betweene the heaven and the earth led me into Ierusalem by the visions of the Lord. I say therefore that when it appeareth that things are said to be done simply wee ought to vnderstand them as done simply and truly Now we reade in the old Testament that many Apparitions have beene made in body And therefore we ought to grant that the Angells do sometimes assume and take vnto them a body in forming such a body as is sensible and subiect to the externall and corporall vision as well as some kinde of shapes do forme themselves in our imagination which do produce an imaginative vision when wee are sleeping But this shall suffice touching this matter Let vs come therefore to the Sceptiques whose manner is to doubt of all things and do make a question whether our senses be true or not CHAP. VI. Of the opinions of the followers of Pirrhon Sceptiques and Aporretiques and what they alleadge to shew that the humane senses and the imaginative power of man are false HAving fully and amply satisfied those that deny the being of Angells and divells and the Apparitions of Specters Now remaineth to bee handled the last point that wee promised to speake of to wit Whether that which we doe perceive by our externall and outward senses sound and not corrupted or that which our imaginative faculty apprehendeth in working be false and not considerable And although this point doth not almost deserve to have any place in this Discourse by reason that the opinion of all men hath in all ages condemned such as have held nothing to be true and certaine of that which commeth and falleth vnder the senses Yet that we may make them to see at this day the errour and incredulitie of some mad-headed and braine-sicke Philosophers of former times like vnto our Atheists and Libertines at this day I was the more willing to set downe thereasons which mooved them to thinke That the truth of each thing was hidden from vs and that nothing could be comprehended but that which is false and vntrue But you must vnderstand that the source and first originall of this error came from Socrates who saide That he knew not any thing save this one thing onely The opinion and saying of Socrates to wit that he knew nothing But therein he was repugnant to himselfe for seeing that he knew some thing he shewed that he had at the least a certaine science and knowledge of that one thing And in saying
dâ—e yet at this da◠〈◊〉 â—â—â—od to kâ—â—â—â— thâ—m from 〈…〉 Pâ—â—â—â—is of the name Laïla which signifieth Night For such diuels doe not vse nor exercise their force against men but in the Night-time But to conclude this Part of our D. scourse touching diuâ—ls shewing themselues in the forme of men I may not forgâ—t that diuel which the Greekes called Eurynomus so famously reported of by Pausanias who writeth Of the Spirit called by the Greek 〈◊〉 Eurynomus That it eateth feedeth only on the carkasses and bodies of the dead in so much as it leaueth not any part of theÌ„ but the bare bones that it hath teeth of an exceeding great length and sticking farre without his mouth that the flesh thereof was of a leaden pale and wan colour such as our Muscles are when they are separated from the other flesh and that it sheweth it selfe continually clothed in a Foxe-skin Which description of it maketh me to thinke that the Auncients did signifie and denotate by this Diuell no other thing but death which after the decease of men doth consume their bodyes leauing nothing but their bones which cannot waxe rotten in the earth and hath long teeth because it deuoureth all is clad in a Foxe-skin that is to say taketh men at vnawaies and vnprouided vsing suttletie and cunning as doth the Foxe Now that we haue sufficieÌ„tly entreated of meÌ„ diuels we will come to those that haue the forme of women Of spirits appearing in the shape of women Of the Gorgon Of which kinde were those Gorgons which the Antiquitie fained to be rauenous gluttonous Of this number also are Acco Alphito monstrous women by naming of whoÌ„ Nurses did vse to feare their litle children from crying and from running forth of dores In like sort Mormo of which is deriued the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mormo and the first word Marmot was one of those with which they terrified little children of which Theocritus maketh mention in one of his bookes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where hee bringeth in a woman speaking threatning her Infant with the Marmot And Nicephorus in his Ecclesiasticall History writeth of a woman Specter which vsed to appeare in the night and was named Gilo Gilo Erynnes or the three Furies oâ— hâ—ll Alecto Mâ—gera Tisiphone Likewise those which the Greekes called Erynnes or Eumenides were euill Spirits which hauing the figure of a woman were thought to appear vnto those which had their hands defiled with murther And to euery one of them was giuen a proper name for the one was called Alecto that is Vncessantly tormenting Another was named Megera which signifieth Enraged And the third Tisiphone which is as much as to say The auenger of murther These Furies or Spirites as olde fables tell vs did appeare vnto Alemeon and Orestes after that the one had killed his mother Eriphile the latter his mother Clytemnestra and they did so torment them that both the one and the other became madde and furious But Orestes to appease them as saith the Greeke Interpreter of Sophocles did dedicate a Temple vnto them and named it the Temple of the Eumenides that is In Aia. Masâ—â— goph of the peaceable and gracious Goddesses The Poet Euripides doth very liuely and naturally represent the feare which Orestes coÌ„cciued seeing these Infernal Furies to approach neere vnto him For hee maketh him to pray entreat his mothet Clytemnestra not to send after him these Furies which saith hee haue their eyes so bloodie and more horrible then Dragons Of the Spirits called Lamiae The Lamiae were likewise Spirites and Specters of the female kinde Howbeit Dion Chrysostome saith that these are certaine liuing creatures or wilde beastes inhabiting the vtmost and desert places of Afrikâ— which from the face to the nauel downewards were so excellently well and perfectly formed and proportioned in beautie throughout all those parts and members of their bodies as the most exquisite Paynter could not with his Pensill so well expresse them And their fashion was to lay open discouer their Alablaster neckes their brests and their faire pappes to the eies and sight of men that so they might allure and draw them neere vnto them theÌ„ would they forthwith eate deuoure them And to this purpose the Prophet Ieremie saith The Lamiae haue discouered Lament 4. and drawne forth their breasts haue shewed their dugs The Hebrew word of Lamiae in that place of the Prophet is Thanin which signifieth a Dragon and a Whale which shewes that these Lamiae besides the face of a woman had some moÌ„strous I know not what thing in them Also Dion whome I before alledged writeth that in stead of feet they had the heads of Dragons But howsoeuer it be that some say they are liuing creatures yet the Hebrew Doctors do interpret them Diuels of the Desert in expounding that word of Esay Tsiiim Esay 13. In vita Apollo nii that it should signifie Lamiae And Philostratus is of the same opinioÌ„ and coÌ„foundeth the Empusae the Lamiae the Laruae all which he calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and saith that these women after they haue allured vnto them by their deceitfull entisements such as are faire and beautifull they do fat them vp being fat they kill them that they may sucke their bloud of the which they are wonderfully desirous holding it to be most delicious and delicate And to this purpose he reciteth a most memorable History or rather a Fable of one Menippus a young and beautifull Philosopher A History of one Menippus beloued of a Diuell This Menippus had beene beloued of one of these Lamiae which did entertaine and dandle him with all manner of delights and pleasant allurements that it could possibly deuise to the inteÌ„t she might afterwards execute her will vpon him as she had formerly done to others whome she had bewitched and enchanted with her loue It chanced that one day Menippus inuited the Philosopher Apollonius borne in Thyana to dine with him The Tables were very curiously dressed and furnished with all kinde of exquisite and delicious dainties The Court Cupboord well garnished with great store of Plate both golde and siluer The Hall hanged with rich Tapistrie and nothing was wanting that could possibly be prepared But Apollonius hauing discoursed and made knowne vnto Menippus that the Mistresse of this goodly feast was a Lamia in continently all vanished away both the woman the Table the Cupboord the Plate and the Tapistrie yea and the very lodging it self which before seemed to be mounted aloft in a most proud and stately building and the goodly high hal the roofe where of hanged ful of laÌ„ps became suddenly to be a little poor cottage or cabbin wherein nothing remained after the depâ—rture of the Lamia but darknes horrour and a filthy stinking sauor I am not ignorant that Sorcerers are tearmed by Apuleius Lamiae In Asino
grosse and carnall and did not beleeue that any thing was spirituall but they did imagine all to bee corporall because they said that the Humane vnderstanding doth alwayes worke with the Phantosme and with the thing Imagined And it appeareth that in dreaming of any thing whatsoeuer we doe alwayes imagine it to be corporall whereupon they conclude that all thinges are corporall therfore that euen God also is a corporall Substance which is the greatest absurdity and blasphemy that can be imagined in the world For if we should restraine God into a body we must also make him subiect to a body so saith Saint Iohn Damascen which in a word is to restraine and shorten the power and omnipotency of God the which being infinitely aboue al substances both corporall and incorporall is not subiect to their Category Exod 3◠Homil. 22. in Marth The reason that moued them to beleeue that God was corporall was a place of Moses for they did not receiue nor admit of any Scriptures but the fiue Bookes of Moses as sayth Origen wherein it is written That God made Moses to stay in the Caue of a rock or moūtain putting his hand vpon him did shew him his hinder parts not suffering him to see his face And therefore in regard that Moses attributeth vnto God a face a hand and other parts they conclude that God hath a body Of the same opinion also was Tertullian as witnesseth Saint Augustine De Origius Animaium Volum 2. Tit. 23. writing to Optatus and the Bogomilles being certaine Heretikes of Bulgarie who thought that God was as we are so writeth Enthymus and that from his two eyes out of his braine did issue two beames the one called the Sunne and the other the Holy Spirite which is a most blasphemous and intollerable errour Now the occasion why the Sadduces did so egerly defend and maintaine that God had a bodie was because they would deny all incorporall substances to which effect they thus argued The argument of the Sadduces If God say they haue created any substances he created them to his owne Image and likenesse and therefore when he made man he saide That he made him according to his own Image shewing therby that he was of a corporal substāce because that man whome he formed to the paterne of his own face is corporall And if God haue made nothing but what is corporall It followeth that the Angels and Diuels which are saide to bee Spirits are nothing but meere fables that there be not any soules or spirits separated from a corporall substance and by consequence that the soule of man is mortall as the bodie and hath no neede to be reunited thereunto by the generall resurrection But it is easie to answere them by denying plainely that God is corporall The argument of the Saduces answered or hath any body For albeit the holy Scripture doth attribute vnto God handes feet face eyes and other parts of a body yet this must be vnderstood spiritually and by those corporall and bodily members we must imagine the spiritual vertues of God according as saith S. Gregory In Moralibus as by his eyes we must vnderstand his foresight and his knowledge to the which all things are open and from which nothing is hiddē and concealed By his hand is meant his Almighty power and puissance By his face the plenitude and fulnesse of his glorie By his hinder parts his glorie is shadowed as vnder the vayle of some certaine forme and similitude And whereas they say that the vnderstanding doth work with the Imagination and that wee doe imagine God to bee a corporal Substance This hath no reason nor any apparance of truth at all but is an errour common to them with the Epicures to the which wee will aunswere anone And as touching the Angels I doe greatly maruell how the Saduces can deny the beeing of them seeing that Moses in many places doth make mention of them and of their Apparition We may therefore very well say of them that they vse the Bookes of Moses as men vse their Stirroppes in lengthening and shortning them at their pleasures This is the reason Contra Tryph. why Iustine Martyre did not reckon them in the number of the Iewes and that worthily but reputed them as Heretickes not allowing them any place in the Iewish Church by reason of the fond and absurde opinions which they held not onely of God but also of the Angels Diuels and soules of men which they affirmed to bee mortall But as concerning this latter point wee shall speake more hereafter Let vs now cōsider the Argumēts of the Epicures The first errour of the Epicures is The opinion of the Epicures that God hath a bodie as the Saduces did beleeue likewise And their first Argument was That nature it selfe forsooth did teach and admonish vs to beleeue The first argument and reasons of the Epicures that both God and all Celestiall essences were corporall for two reasons The former was because the Gods are not figured in any other then in a humane forme And the second because whether it be in sleeping or in waking when wee dreame or imagine of the Gods no other forme doth present it selfe vnto our imaginations but a humane shape And therefore they conclude that the Gods are in figure like vnto men But vnto this argument Cicero answereth sufficiently Lib. de natura Deorum That such humane shape and forme is attributed vnto the Gods Answere to the first argument of the Epicures by the inuention of men and that either it proceedeth from the wisedome of the Auncients who thought thereby they should the more easily draw the spirits and minds of the ignorant to the knowledge of spirituall and supernaturall things and that they should the sooner bring and reduce them into the way to liue well and vertuously Or else that the same had it beginning and first footing from a blinde superstition which doth most easily allure men to adore those gods which are portrayed and carued in a forme most pleasing and agreeable vnto men Or else that it is but a fiction of Poets and Paynters who haue alwayes beene audacious to faine and deuise any thing rather then that which shold be according to truth verity And this last point may wel serue to answer that which the Epicures say that be it in sleeping or in waking the gods do not presét themselues vnto vs in any other then a humane forme For this is certain that by the portraiture and pictures which we see of the Gods in those formes which are common and familiar vnto vs we doe imagine though falsly that which may resemble vnto vs the same which we haue seene to be painted Insomuch that Iupiter seemeth vnto vs to haue a face and countenance terrible with his haire blacke and hanging backwarde as Phidias did graue him And Minerua had her eyes blewe or of an azure
1. 3. which are sayde to have so much power and puissance to worke myracles Rabbi Moses Egyptian mocketh and scoffeth at them that beleeve it and calleth them deceyvers and lyers that go about to perswade the simple credulous people to beleeve such fooleries And it had beene well done of Albertus Magnus if hee had helde his tongue and beene silent when he wrote of the confection of those Rings and Caracters which hee referred to the starres But that such kinde of Rings and Caracters are meerely superstitious and Diabolicall And that the Divell doth sometime enter into them and inclose hmselfe within them I will cite no other prooves vnto you then Andreas and Pamphilus two Phisitions Lib. 6. Desimplicibus medecin and the Horoscopes or casters calculators of Nativities and such like Starre-gazers all which doe gather their herbes at a certaine set houre observing verie curiously both the course of the starres and the verie hower wherein the Divell hath chiefest power and commaund over the herbes which they preserve and keepe And the same Andreas and Phamphilus did write certain Bookes which as Galen writeth they intituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is to say The charmes and changes of hearbes consecrated to the Divels And more then that Pamphilus doth teach and set downe what ceremonies wordes and enchantments ought to bee vsed in pulling and gathering of the hearbes and rootes to the intent saith he That the Divell who hath rule and commaund over the herbes that are gathered may not doe any hurt or annoyance to them that gather them You may see therefore how that such superstitions ought not to be referred to the celestiall vertues or influences but vnto the power of the Divell which worketh vppon them supernaturally to deceive and seduce those that are giuen to be so superstitious The second argument of the Peripatetiques The Peripatetiques do yet insist further vpon the Puissance of the Heavens And they say That every natural Agent working vpoÌ„ divers obiects doth continually produce divers Actions as if waxe morter wood be put neere to the fire the waxe will melt the morter will grow harder and the wood will either burne or bend And yet notwithstanding all these operations have a certaine similitude from the part of the Agent for if one being a farre off do see the wax to melt hee may iudge that there is some fire neâ—re the which vpon occasion can as well harden the morter and burne the wood likewise Wherefore the heaven being a naturall Agent and having many things neere adioyning vnto it It must needes be that it must worke many effects Of the which the one is particularly the certaine signe of the other albeit many of them doe never take effect nor can be knowne what they be And forasmuch as of great events it must needes be that the causes be strong and forcible so contrariwise where the causes are powerful puissant the effects also must of necessitie be admirable because in nature the causes are ever answerable to the effects It is therefore no mervaile if the heaven do produce Specters and such like micaculous effects it having such power over the inferior Bodies Answer to their second Argument But this argument may bee soone aunswered in two words That the influence of the heavens doth worke by the will of God many things that are strange and admirable and yet such neverthelesse as are naturall But that the heavens haue the power to worke above nature and so to produce Specters that can in no wise be granted nor admitted because Nature it selfe is contrary therevnto the which ought first to be regarded and considered as the cause before wee can admit or allow of her effects Thus you see how easily all the reasons of the Peripatetiques are refuted and overthrowne how strong soever they seeme to be made to proove such power in the heavens Let vs now therefore see what they alledge to deny the essence and being of Divells The first Argument of the peripatetikes to pro that there are no divells Their first argument is that the Art Magike is nothing but meerely vaine and false But the intention of Magike is held to be principally of and by the Divells Therefore the Divells are not at all but are a vaine and false thing To this argument I answere That trew it is that Magike is a vaine Science and prohibited Answer to their first Argnment that the effects thereof are full of abuse and scandalous But that the Art Magicke is nothing and that the divells can not worke by it by the meanes of Magicians and Sorcerers is no consequent Their second Argument Their second argument is that if there be divells then they have a soule and members necessary to execute and performe the functions of the soule as wee see in living creatures And to the end that such things should consist and be the divells must of necessitie have a more solide and firme element then the ayre to wit the water or the earth where it behooveth them to abide and remaine Answer to their second Argument But this argument is of no sorce for I deny that it is necessary the divells should have a body and admit they doe make a shew of one when they appeare vnto vs yet that followeth not that they have such a one of their own nature but they do fit and accommodate themselves to our senses taking vnto them a body of an ayrie subtile and thin substance Their third Argument Their third argument is that if it bee graunted there bee Divelles it is principally in respect of Specters But the Specters are vaine or come for the most parte of the secret causes of the Heavens or of Nature and therefore all that which is said of divells is meerely false and vntrue Answer to their third Argument To this argument we neede not make any answer seeing we have before sufficiently satisfied them in this point Their fourth Argument is that it is not probable there should be any divells in that spatious emiptie circuit of the ayre or in the earth because Their fourth Argument if they be in so great a number as it is affirmed that they are they might be then as thicke and in as great a multitude as the birds of the ayre and so every place would be full of Specters spirits divells which would yeelde divers feares and terrours vnto men But that is not so For hardly shall a man see in the space of twenty yeares that in any Province any Specters do appeare and present themselves and when they do at any time shew themselves it may be attributed vnto Nature Again they adde this reason that if there be divells they should be either friends or enemies vnto men if enemies then some should be hurt and offended by them especially such as make a mocke and ieast at them and their essence as namely the
death still doubt P. Yea much more I now rest doubtfull than I did before Ap. Poore man T is time thou now leave off thy doubting And let thy Tombe so ponderous and heavy Henceforth make cease all doubtfulnesse within thee Lucian also scoffing at him and his folowers saith That they aide themselves of their senses as if they had none at all in not beleeving that they do see that which they have seene or to heare that which they have heard as being altogether senslesse and not assuring any thing for certaine which may come into the vnderstanding by the senses Sextus the Philosopher who was one of this Sect hath written a very large volume wherein he assayeth to maintaine the opinion of Pirrhon by the authority of many auncient Philosophers and Poets and to shew by lively demonstrations and arguments That the sight the hearing the smelling and other the humane senses are subiect to be deceived be they never so sound and that wee doe neither imagine nor take an opinion of any thing but falsely and inconsiderately But it is more than time that we doe set downe with as great brevitie as may be what should move Pirrhon and his disciples to be so obstinate to deny all things though never so manifest and to impugne the veritie of the senses It is not without cause that I should touch this poynt for it followeth with good reason That if the Sonse the Imagination and the Intellect be false then that also which we comprehend by them as the Specters must needes bee false and deceitfull likewise The Arguments of the Sceptiques against Specters And as touching Specters Beholde what the Sceptiques do alleadge to refute them First they say That of things incomprehensible no demonstration can be made and by consequence no iudgement And as it is most sure and certaine that the Specters are incomprehensible in nature so is not possible for any man to give any demonstration or iudgement of them For those thinges of which demonstration may be made have a substance certaine comprehensible and assured to be such which cannot be saide of Specters The which even amongst the dogmaticall Philosophers who were most earnest maintainers of that opinion is certaine were called in doubt as namely by the Peripatetiques who of all other Philosophers being the most dogmaticall and opinionative did wholy impugne and deny the being of any Specters Answer to the first argument of the Sceptiques But to this argument I answere That albeit the Specters be incomprehensible in their owne nature yet when they appeare vnto vs they are comprehensible by the senses which doe carry them to the Intellect or vnderstanding and the same dooth then give such demonstration and iudgement of them according as is the subiect thereof and that is it iudgeth of them supernaturally as of a thing supernaturall The second argument of the Sceptikes That the senses are vncertaine and deceived in regarde of the vncertainetie and variety of the accidents in man which being knowne by the senses doe cause in them diverse and different imaginations and effects But will the Sceptiques now say The senses can not see or discerne any thing in truth and how is it then possible that vpon an obiect falsely conceived a man may ground his iudgement and maintaine the essence thereof But now let vs see what they alleadge for the regard of the senses It is most certaine say they that the senses do not comprehend any thing but by th' accidents Of the which the essence is vncertaine and variable according vnto the subiects wherein they offer themselves to be seene For we see that in following the vncertaintie of the accidents there are to be marked and observed divers imaginations fantasies and natures in creatures of which the senses doe ' comprehend and perceive some things either more or lesse in them as the Eagle hath her sight more cleere then all other birdes and the dogge hath his nosthrilles more subtile to smell and to take the sent of any thing far more excellent than any other beast whatsoever Contrariwise the Owle seeth not at all but only in the night and there are many creatures which can smell little or nothing at all And this proceedeth not of any other thing than of the accidents which being divers and different in creatures dooth make their imaginative powers to be as divers and different likewise That this is so and that the accidents do present themselves in creatures according to the diversitie of their condition or disposition It appeareth even amongest men who according as they shall finde themselves disposed so will they alwayes imagine the thinges that are present As those that have a fever doe iudge all things to be hote and to them that have their tongue or taste distemperd by meanes of any fever wherewith they are aggreeved all meates doe seeme to be exceeding bitter and so is it likewise of all other accidents wherewith men are touched and whereof they have an imagination by their senses Insomuch that there are found some men who in their sleep walke go vp and downe and which is almost incredible doe execute all such actions as they vse to doe when they are waking With such a maladie or infirmitie were stricken Theon Tithoreus the Stoicke and the servant of Pericles of whome we reade That the one vsed to walke in his sleepe and the other did vsually in his sleepe creepe vppe to the toppe of the house as is reported by Diogenes Laertius Lib. 9. de vita Philosophorum Lib. examin is doctrin Gent. And Francis Picus of Mirandola writeth that himselfe knew many in his time to whome the like had happened Besides Aristotle in his booke of Auscultations writeth That in the Cittie of Tarentum there was a Taverner which in the day time did vse to sell wine and in the night would runne vppe and downe through the Towne in his sleepe as if he hadde beene madde or frantike and yet would so well looke to the keeping of the keyes of his Taverne or Wine-seller which he carried hanging at his girdle that a many of gallants having plotted made a match to get it from him yet lost their labour and were disappoynted of their purpose Barâ—boâ—us also telleth how there was a certaine man in Pisa In lib. vt vim D. de Iust Iur. which in his sleepe would vse to arise and arme himselfe and to runne vp and downe wandering through the towne still talking and singing as hee went And Marian a Doctour of the Civill Lawe writeth that there was a neighbour of his a yoong woman Cap. ad studientium that in her sleep would arise out of her bed and bake her bread sleeping In like sorte Laudensis writeth how hee had a companion his fellow student at Paris In Clem. 1. de homicid an Englishman borne who without awaking went in the night not farre from the Church of Saint Benet
glister as if it had had many windowes Lib. 36. cap. 22. natural histor and as if the cleerenes of the light had beene inclosed and shut vp within the walls thereof notwithstanding that the day light never pierced into it A certaine Author writeth In vita Horatii that the Poet Horace was so lascivious and luxurious that he caused this stone of Talc to be placed in his chamber to the intent it might represent vnto him his strumpets in the very action of dishonesty But this was not a thing peculiar vnto Horace alone but it was common vnto him with many Emperours that did the like And in truth this Poet was worthie to be the friend and favorite of Mecenas who was not onely defamed to be wanton and effeminat in his speech in his habite and in his going but was a man of most corrupt manners and extreamly addicted to lust and licensiousnes in such sort that by the excessive ryot of his youth he became in his later yeares to be full of maladies and diseases in so much as be could not sleepe nor take his rest scarce a moment of an houre Howe the sight is deceived by many particular obiects But to returne to our purpose it is well knowne that ordinarily the spectacles or sight-glasses do make letters to seeme more great then they are indeede And those things which a man beholdeth within the water doe seeme also farre bigger then they be by nature And let any letters be never so small and little yet are they verie easie to be read through a viall filled with water Apples also if they swimme within a glasse do seeme much fairer then they are The starres likewise are farre greater to the sight if a man behold them through a clowde And the like is to be seene of the Sunne also If a man cast a ring into a cup or bole though the ring be in the bottome yet will it appeare as if it were in the superficies and top of the water The sea seemeth to be of an Azure colour and notwithstanding it hath not any color certaine In a bright and cleere ayre by an artificiall fire are to be seen many colours and many figures which are false by reason of the varietie of the matter of the fire And sometimes a man would even sweare that those that are sitting at a table together should be without heades or should seeme to be dead men or shoulde have the heades of some other creatures And the chamber where men are supping together will sometimes seeme to be full of serpents and there will seeme a Vine to spread and seatter abroade her boughes and braunches though indeed it be a meere illusion There be some men who in this our age have stuffed their Bookes with such devises as amongest others Cardan and Baptista de la Porta a Neapolitane De subtilitat Imagin natura Tho. Aquin. 1. parte q. 11.4 art 4. And there is not so much as Saint Thomas of Aquine but hath written of an hearb the which being sâ—t on sire will make the rafters or beames of the chamber seeme to be Serpents What should I say more The cloudes sometimes will seeme to be Monsters Lions Bulls Woolves painted and figured albeit in truth the same be nothing but a moyst humour mounted in the ayre and drawne vp from the earth not having any figure or colour but such as the ayre is able to give vnto it The which is subiect to a thousand impressions and changes Of the vncertainty of the other senses of the difference and discord of theÌ„ together Now after that wee have so largely discoursed of the sight if we should come to the other senses by what meanes can we better argue their vncertainty according to the opinion of the Sceptiques than to shew the difference that they have together which is in such manner that they doe not in any forte accord and agree neither have they any Sympathy any colligence or any proportion one to another And first of all if we will compare the senses of Smelling Of the differense and discord betwixt the other senses and that of the sight the Touching and the Taste with that of the Sight what better example can we have than the Apple the which in sight will be pale and yet in taste wil be sweete in handling will be light and in smel will be of a good and pleasant odour Heereby then it is manifest that the senses are not of any good accorde together amongest themselves And besides what can better demonstrate this than the colours whereof wee have earst spoken the which as they are vnknowne to the sight so doe they ingender a great discord amongst the senses If a man should say that every thing which is white in colour dooth proceede of a hote qualitie the contrary will appeere evidently by the Snow and by the Yce And if a man would say it were long of a colde qualitie The Ashes the Lime and the Plaister doe sufficiently shew that hee were deceived The like may a man affirme of other colours aswell blacke as those that participate both of white and blacke And how often is it seene that the Physitians are deceived in iudging of the temperature of their Simples by the sight onelie and not by the other senses I have seene a Practitioner in Physicke at Paris who did bragge in the open Parliament in the hearing of my selfe and an infinite number of people that can testifie the same likewise That by the simple sight alone he would knowe all the qualities and temperatures of hearbes that any should shew vnto him yea though they were come from America and such as the vertues of them were scarce yet knowne of Physitians But this Paracelsian was reiected and confuted with his Paracelsus and his ignorance was sufficiently discovered by such as had commission to question with him But what is the cause That being in a hote Bath wee doe thinke that our vrine is colde Is it not bicause our Touching or Feeling is vncertaine and doth not well accord and agree with the other senses In the winter by reason that we are colde all other externall things doe seeme vnto vs to be hote by the same reason that we alleadged before of the Bath Of the differense and discord of the senses of hearing and the sight And to come from the difference of the Feeling to that which the Hearing hath with the Sight Is it not most certaine that the Eye seeth sooner than the Hearing can vnderstand or discerne a thing The experience of this may be seene in the lightning the brightnesse and shining whereof is seene sooner than we can heare the thunder And sometimes the Hearing will iudge that it hath heard two blowes given at the striking of a thing which it hath seene to strike no more than once And heereof a man may have the experience by that which wee see daily to happen
adventurous beganne to rush vpon Monsieur the spirite saying vnto him Sir if you be the Divell I am his damme And therewithall he curried him so lustily with sound blowes of his cudgell that the spirite which was of no other substance than flesh and bone did so well feele his Bastanadoes as hee cryed out for pardon and saide hee was Maister Iohn At this worde his neece leapt out of hir bed and stayed herfriend from dealing with him any further And this shall suffice to speake of artificiall devises which doe in a sorte seeme very cunning and subtile and do passe withall so cunningly as the most crafty are overtaken and abvsed by them Wee will now proceede to speake of other artificiall prankes more grosse and not so fine and such as are played and vsed vpon sottish and simple witted persons Of iests wher by simple persons are deceved and deluded lib. 2. of the Courtier It is a thing very ordinary and vsuall with common Iesters to be alwayes deluding of simple and credulous folkes And you may well thinke how easie a matter it was to make that man beleeve any thing whatsoever of whome Balthasar Castilion speaketh who was easily perswaded and drawne to beleeve that hee was starke blinde The history is thus Two Bouffons or pleasant companions after they had long played and jested with a poore simple fellow made him in the end to lay him downe And within a while after they having put out the candle made a shew as if they had beene still playing at the cardes and did perswade him who was layde that there was light still burning in the chamber and that they did still holde on play Insomuch as at last this poore man began to cry out vnto them saying Oh sirs I am blinds The others replying vnto him and making shew as if they did come neere him with the candle said that he was deceived and that it was nothing but a fantasie that was come into his head for that his eyes were still very faire and goodly to looke vnto Ayme quoth he this is no fantasie nor I see no more than as if I never had had eyes in my head This poore sotte say I woulde have easely beene made beleeve all manner of false visions that any man could have presented vnto his sight And if his companions had withall made a noyse and rumbling in the Chamber it had beene enough to have scared and frayed him as if the Fairies and Spirites had already taken him by the shinnes Besides it is a common tricke of vnhappy boyes to make especiall choice of Churchyardes there to terrifie others Churchyards places most suspected for spirits to walk in because those are helde to be places most suspected for Ghostes and Spirites to haunt in and inhabite In those places they will sometimes set Crevises alive or Tortoyses and putte a burning candle on their backes and after will let them to go to the intent those that shall see them slowly marching or creeping neere about the sepulchres may suppose them to be the soules of dead men In himno Mercurii And truely Homer saith That the Tortoise is armed with deceipt and imposture or that I may vse his owne worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Meaning in my conceit That by her simple persons are deceived in the night season More than that there be of those Streete-walkers and idle companions which wil apparel themselves like warre-woolves and take vnto them the habite of some supposed spirite or Divell and so keeping neere vnto the sepulchres of the dead they will counterfeit themselves all the night to be ghosts and spirites Lavater recounteth how it happened one day in a Towne of Switzerland named Zurich Libr. 1. de Spectris that certaine yoong lusty Gallants and carelesse youths having changed their apparell did daunce all night long and within a certaine churchyard and it happened that one of them more pleasantly disposed than she rest taking vp the bone of a dead man did play therewithall vpon a beere of wood that was neere by and was vsed for the carriage of the dead corpes and hee made it to sound as if he had beene playing on a Tabor Some there were that happened to perceive it who as it seemeth being none of the wisest did presently spreade abroade throughout all the towne and reported that they had seene a daunce of dead men and that it was greatly to be doubted that some plague and mortalitie would follow after it Certaine it is that it is much the worse when as such fooles doe finde others as very fooles as themselves For else it might happen that their trumperies and deceiptfull illusions which they prepare to abuse others would fall vpon their owne heades and they might chaunce at some time or other to be so well marked for their labour as they would remember it all their lives after But if these maister fooles doe gaine little or nothing in playing the divelles towardes such as are more divelles than themselves So doe they as little advantage themselves when they thinke to terrifie and make afraide such men as are wise and of a minde settled and assured and who doe not easely or without good proofe and triall beleeve all things to be Spirites which doe appeere hideous and strange vnto them To this purpose there is a very notable Historic recited by Lucian of Democritus an excellent Philosopher in his time In Dialogo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Democritus being willing to withdrawe himselfe into a solitary place that hee might the more at his ease intend the study of Philosophy without being troubled by any body made choice of a sepulchre that was large and deepe in the ground and seated without the citie of Abdera within the which enclosing and shutting himselfe vp hee beganne to write and compose many things containing matter of notable and great learning The young youths of Abdera who esteemed him little better than a foole being advertised heereof apparelled themselves in the habite and shew of spirites and taking vnto them blackeroabes and certaine hideous visardes made like in shape vnto dead men having their sculles bare and naked they did environ the sepulchre round about dācing leaping fetching their gambolds in a round never ceasing still to intermingle straunge cries and voyces in their dauncing Democritus for all this mummery would not so much as lift vppe his eyes from his Booke but continued still writing of somthing all that time But in the end being weary of their cries and noyse he sayde vnto them Cease cease my friends to play the fooles thus as you doe and vse your fooleries to some others for I knowe you well enough Neverthelesse Guido Cavalcanti did in another forte aunswere certaine yoong Gentlemen of Florence that came to feare and terrifie him within a Churchyard where hee was verie busie and intentive in coutemplating certaine auntiént Toombes and Sepulchres For as Boccace affirmeth having
his eyes And we reade moreover in the history of the Greek Emperors that the cruel and inhumane Emperour Emaâ—well did cause the Venetian Aâ—bassadour Henry Daâ—dâ—lo to loose the vse of his sight by setting â—â—cere vnto his eyes a brazen bason burning hote and sparkling with fire the which did so dâ—rlâ—â—n and blinde his sight that hee could never after see cleerly but became squint eyed to looke cleane away Of the natural causes corrupting the hearing and causing deafnes And to come from the sight to the sense of hearing It is most sure that besides that the excellencie of the obiect may impaire and hurt it it may also be corrupted and altered by sicknes when the Cartilage which is very tender and whereof the principall cause of the hearing doth depend shall bee hindered and stopped with any slymie and thicke clammie humour the which doth sometimes so sticke and cleave together therein and that in such aboundance as it bringeth and causeth an entyre and absolute deafenes And sometimes when this humour doth not so exceedingly abound then it maketh men deafe onely so as they cannot vnderstand except a man doe speake vnto them with a very lowde and high voyce with his mouth put close vnto their ears And such may by reason of their hearing violated and corrupted oftentimes thinke that they heare a buzzing or whistling winde a trembling and shaking of flaming fire a trilling noyse of some running fountaines and the roaring of some violent water-course At other times they suppose that they heare the sound of some melodious instruments of musicke and at other times the sound and ringing of bells although indeede they heare no such matter So likewise when the exterior obiect of the sense of hearing doth excell then also without all doubt for the reasons afore alleadged is the hearing thereby offended no lesse then is the sight by any exceeding lively and bright shining cleerenesse Whereof we have before yeelded an example in those that inhabite at the head or saults of Nilus who became deafe by hearing continually and without ceasing the noyse of the water falling from the mountaines And this is yet more manifest in that if a man doe cause any violent or cracking noyse to found neere vnto ones eares Or if wee doe goe into a Steeple or Tower to heare the sounding and ringing of any great bells our eare will have a kinde of tingling or ringing in it a long time after and the hearing for a time will thereby become as if it were deafe Of the â—â—â—gling and riâ—ging in the eares and the causes theâ—â—â— But as touching the tingling of the eares it is oftentimes caused without any exteriour found offending the hearing For sometimes it proceedeth of a certaine boiling vp or overflowing of the blood which striketh riseth vp into the face and by an excessive shame-fastnes seazing on the partie doth empurpure and die or colour the face blood red The which thing the learned Sappho did not forget in saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is Suddainely a subtile fire did mount and runne round about my flesh And afterwards he addeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is I see nothing with my eyes and yet mine eares do â—â—â—gle And Catullus hath the same in these verses of his Lingua sed Torpet tenues sub artus Flamma Demanat sonito suopte Tiniunt aures gemina teguntur Lumina nocte And it seemeth in my opinion saving the better iudgement of men more learned then myselfe that this Poet did not well vnderstand the meaning of Sappho who did not intend any amorous flame but the subtile and warme blood that doth die the countenance and maketh it so red that the sight hath thereby a suffusion for a while and the eares do tingle with it And this is very ordinarie and naturall in shame-facde persons and to such as being in the presence of their mistrisses dare not speake vnto them but doe stand as having lost their senses and do blush all over as red as fire There is also another tingling of the eare whereof because there can be no reason yeelded as there is of the former it is therefore esteemed to bee ominous And the Antients did imagine as we do yet at this day that when the eare tingleth or burneth and no naturall cause appeareth why it shoulde so doe that then some body is talking of vs in our absence In Cata Lect Virgil. And so much testifieth that Epiramme whichg the learned Ioseph Scaliger hath taken out of the auntient Relques and olde hand-written bookes Garrula quidâ—totis resonas mihi noctibus Auris Neseio quem dicis nunc meminisse mei Now as the Hearing and the Sight may be corrupted and depraved Of the Taste corrupted by sundry infirmities so may the Tastebe also For as we see that there be in the tongue two veines which doe continually engender and beget a kinde of humiditie and moisture whereof proceedeth the taste So when this moisture is corrupted in the mouth of such as labour or bee sicke of a Fover or any other disease the savour and taste of their meates will never taste aright vnto them For if you should give vnto some sicke persons the most pleasant and sweetest wine that a man could choose yet it would be as bitter and vnsavorie vnto them as Rubarbe And let them sup or take a taste of an excellent Cullisse or of a Gelley or of any good broth it will seeme vnto them to be very vnpleasing and vnsavorie Neverthelesse that proceedeth either of the wine or of the default of the Cooke in not well feasoning and preparing the Cullisse the Gelloy or the broth but onely it commeth of the pallate and taste alrered by reason of the sicknesse And whereof now yee doth it come that the taste hath of it selfe sometimes a feeling of a favour which is not but onely by meanes of the evill complexion of the sicke partiâ— who savoureth things like vnto the sicknes wherewith hee is possessed If it be a cholericke humor that aboundeth and over ruleth in him hee will feelenothing but bitternesse in his palace if it be any sharp humour all things will taste in his mouth sharpe and biting if the humour be sweete his taste will rellish all things sweete and so of all other savourâ— it will be the like And if it happen that this evill complexion in the diseased doe grow to be any thing strong vpon him then whatsoever hee shall eate and take into his mouth will be like in taste to the savour that is inwards and within him And we see that the. Phisitians doe sometimes iudge of the â—â—aladies to come by the savours which they doe smell to proceede from the interiour or inward parts vnto the pallate of such persons as are full and repleate with evill and vndigested humours And according to these savours they will know what humour doth most offend and abound and thereafter will they