the bones of fishes and of pure water because the Island is so barren that it beareth neither corne nor wine By reason whereof the spirites of the people doe become verie grosse dull partly in regard of their manner of living and of the ayre and partly in respect of the nature of the soyle and by meanes of the extreame cold that there exceedeth And thereof it proceedeth that for the thicknesse of the aire for the vapours which are ingendred by reason of the colde many images and formes are seene wandring and straying here and there the which the feare and imagination the weaknes of the braine in the inhabitants doth conceive and retaine even so long till they come to fall vnder the sense of the sight which suffereth it selfe to be perswaded that they are true formes and shapes in verie deed And when the sight which is the most sharpe and quickest of all the senses is once offended and abused then do those Ilanders thinke and beleeve that they see touch and embrace the Specters and vaine Images of such men as are dead and were knowne vnto them in their life time for that the minde dooth alwayes waies perswade it self of things known vnto them conceyved in their fantasie And he addeth But this may be thought verie straunge how these vaine visions of spirites should seeme in the end to speake and talke vnto them and when they are vanishing away from them to tell the inhabitants that they go thence into the Mountaine Heclae Neverthelesse wee must know thus much that this Mountaine is like that of Mongibell in Sicilye which at times doth vomit out flames of fire which is the cause that through a long and inveterated perswasion the inhabitants of this Isle have beene of opinion that within the hollow places and Caverns of this Mountaine the soules of the dead doe endure their purgatorie like as many also are perswaded that the soules did suffer in Mongibell which in times past was held to be the Forge and furnace of Vulcan and of late hath bin callet Aetna a name which in mine opinion commeth of Athuna that signifieth an Oven Thus you see what Cardan sayth concerning those spirits that doe sometimes shew themselves and appeare in Island wherevnto answere may bee made That the Isle of Thule now called Iseland Ansvver to the latter reason of Cardan is not so barren and vnfruitfull as he reporteth it neither are the inhabitants so poore and miserable as that they do live of nothing but of meale of fish-bones in stead of bread Those that have beene in this Isle doe report no such matter And as touching the nature of this soyle being full of a kind of pitch of the nature of Sulphre or Brimstone I beleeve Cardan in that poynt but yet that the bad and corrupt feeding and nouriture of vnwholsome grosse nutriments or that this pitch it selfe can so thicken the ayre the sensitive spirits in such sort as a man should imagine himselfe to see touch embrace spirits specters that is beyond my knowledge I make no doubt but that herbes and rootes being taken without any other nutritive substance and those meates that are of evill digestion to the stomacke or doe carrie a strong savour in the mouth as Onions Garlike and such like things doe thicken and corrupt the ayre so as it may cause infection And thereof commeth the Proverb That after a Famine commeth the Pestilence For the poore people not having bread to feede vpon doe sustaine and norish themselves with such infectious victualls And then when the Sunne hath heated the ayre and being at the height doth shoote and pierce into the bowells of the earth as Homer termeth it and doth make vs to feele the force of her scorching beames and parching heate Then incontinently doth the Pestilence also beginne to grow hote by the infection of the ayre which is before infected by the corrupt feeding of the people Moreover I know well that Brimstone and Sulphre do thicken the ayre insomuch as the birds sometimes flying over it do sodainely fall downe dead Neverthelesse as I have already said I cannot conceive that by reason of bread and ill feeding or by vertue of the soile partaking of sulphre a man should see any Specters and those false and imaginative onely For the land of Iewry where the like kinde of pitch or sulphre groweth in the lake Asphaltites doth not complaine of seeing any Spectes as the Islanders doe And if such pitch or sulphurous soyle should cause the generation of Specters assuredly they would appeare and shew themselves more easily in the land of Iewry then in Island because in Iewry the ayre is more warme and of much more heate then in Iseland where the windes do carry a great sway The which will soone dissipate and scatter all figures created in a grosse and thicke ayre so as they shall not have any leasure to forme and shape themselves For there must of necessitie be such an ayre as may bee warme and milde without any windes that should cause them to stay and abide so long that a man may exactly discerne them as Specters And this is a thing most cleere and manifest that the winter and the colde are so farre from making the ayre warme or thicke that they do rather make it cleere pure and subtile Last of all I will say this more that if the Specters do proceede in Iseland by reason of the ayre which is perpetually thicke and grosse there in that Countrey We must conclude also that the Specters there should be perpetuall likewise But the Iselanders do not see any but very seldome and that but once onely in their whole life time How then is it possible that the ayre should bee the cause of their generation But let vs admit all these reasons of Cardan together with their absurdities and let vs see what answer he will make to his owne obiection in that he affirmeth how these Specters do speake and talke vnto men saying That they go to the mountaine Herlu Is the pitch or sulpher in that soyle the cause thereof or is it caused by the thicke and grosse ayre or by the nuriture and feeding of the inhabitants Can the sense of hearing be offended and abused as well as the sight by meanes of the ayre that it should enter within the cartilage or gristle of the care and that it should carry by the empty passage thereof even into the braine distinct and plaine sounding voyces and yet such as should notwithstanding be false and imagined Truly these reasons are farre vnworthy and vnbeseeming a man any thing though never so little seene or exercised in Philosophy much more so great a Philosopher and Phisitian as Cardan was Neverthelesse I am of the opinion that Cardan did not erre in Philosophie through ignorance but having a desire continually to appeare more learned he did ever bend himselfe to impugne that which hee knew the
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
Answer to their tenth Argument do not suffice to produce a true shape of a humane body but onely by the due and ordinary meane of generation Neverthelesse so it is that the Angells and divells are capable to clothe themselves and to put on a certaine similitude of humane bodie as touching the colour and figure and other such exterior Accidents and that especially at such a time as when it may suffice them by a locall motion to moove any such bodies by meanes whereof both the vapors are thickned and againe purefied and made thin as also the clowds are diversly painted and figured But they obiect againe that this is not sufficient But they say that it behooveth the cause A reply to the former answer mooving to infuse some vertue into the body mooved but cannot infuse any vertue except it touch it And if it bee so that the Angells have not any touching nor feeling with the bodie it seemeth that then they cannot moove it And therefore it must needes be that they cannot take vpon them any body Answer to the reply But it may be said that the Angells by their commandement onely may moove the body with a motion locall which they give vnto it in touching of it not with a corporall kinde of touching but a spirituall A surreply to the former answer Against this solution they dispute further saying It behoveth the mover and the thing moved to be connexed and vnited togither as appeareth by Aristotle But in saying that an Angell doth commaund any thing of his own will Li. 7. Phisee it is to bee presupposed that then hee is not together with the bodie which is saide to bee governed by him and therefore he cannot move the bodie only by his commaundement Herevnto I answere That the commaundement of the Angell doth demaund an execution of his vertue and puissance and therefore it must of necessitie bee that there be some spirituall touching of that bodie by which it is moved The eleventh Argument They insist yet further and say That the Angels cannot move bodies with any locall motion and that therefore in vaine should the bodies bee obedient vnto them seeing they should still remain immoveable And to prove this they bring diverse arguments 8. Phisicorum Arguments vrging that angels cannot move bodies with a locall motion Their first Argument is taken from the authoritie of Aristotle who sayth That the locall motion is the principall and most perfect of all other motions Now the Angels if it be graunted that they take a bodie cannot vse any lesser or inferiour motions It followeth therefore by a more forcible reason that they can much lesse vse any locall motion which is the greatest and the most excellent of all others Answer to the first reason But the answere is easie and we say That the Angels moving themselves with a locall motion by the phantasmaticall bodie which they take may also cause the other lasser motions by vsing some corporal agents for the producing of those effects which they purpose like as the Smith vseth fire to soften the yron and to reduce it to that which they have an intention to make of it And as touching that saying of Aristotle That the locall motion is the chiefest of all motions the reason thereof is because everie corporall nature having life as apt to move it selfe locally by the meanes of the soule bee it either reasonable or sensitive which giveth life vnto it The second reason Their second Argument is That the locall motion of naturall bodies doth follow their formes But the Angels are not causes of the formes of naturall bodies and therefore they cannot be a meane to give them any locall motion Answere to the second reason Neverthelesse answere may be made them That in bodies there bee other locall motions then those that doe adhere vnto the formes as the flowing and ebbing of the Sea doe not follow the substantiall forme of the water but the influence of the Moone with much greater reason therefore may other locall motions then such as adhere to the formes follow spirituall and incorporall substances The third reason Their third Argument is That the corporall members do obey to the conception of the soule in a locall motion in asmuch as they have from her the beginning of life now the bodies which the Angels take vnto them have not from them the beginning of life for then it would behoove that the bodies and the Angels should be vnited togither And therefore it followeth that the bodies by them assumed cannot bee obedient to any locall motion Answer to the third reason I answere That the Angels have their vertue lesse restrayned or hindred then the soules insomuch that being separated from all corporall massinesse they may neverthelesse take an ayrie bodie the which they can move locally at their will and pleasure Their tvvelfth Argument Besides all the former Arguments they replie yet further and say That everie corporall motion doth not obey to the commaund of the Angels as touching the forming and fashioning thereof now the figure which the angels take is as a kinde of forme And therefore by the onely commaundement of the angels cannot any bodie take any forme or figure whatsoever bee it either of man or of any other diverse kinde comprised vnder one gender To this the answere is That the figure which the Angells take Answer to their tvvelfth Argument is in very truth a forme which is made by the abscision and dismembring as a man may say of the thickning of the ayre or by the purefaction of it or by the similitude and motion which may bee taken of the same matter But there is a very great difference betweene the forme Figure that is made so accidentally and that which is naturall and according to the true substance of a thing the which cannot possibly be confounded with this accidentall Figure Their thirteenth Argument that divells cannot take a body This is not all which they obiect for they say further touching the Divells That if they doe invest themselves with a body then they ought to be within the body which they have taken Now S. Ierome interpreting that place of the Psalmist The Lord in his holy Temple and the Glosse doe say that the divells do command and rule over images and idolls externally and cannot be in them internally and the idolls are bodies as every man knoweth And therefore it cannot be said that the divells can take vpon them any bodies Answer to their thirteenth Argument I answer That to be in or within a body of some substance hath a double and two-folde entendment or vnderstanding In the first sort it is vnderstoode vnder the Tâ—rmes of Divinitie And in this manner nothing letteth but that the Divell may be in a body In the second sort it is meant according To the essence as in giving a beeing to the
still continue burning and especially Mongibel the which occasioned and wrought infinite domages to the lands neece adioyning vnto it For the report is that the fire of Mongibel did range and spread it selfe so farre that the greatest part of Calabria was filled with the dust of the ashes and cinders thereof and two Villages Mâ—ntpilere and Liâ—olosi were quite burned and consumed And not these mountaines alone are onely subiect â—ofire and continuall burning Of the cause that the mountaines doe burne but Olans the Great writeth that in Iseland there is a mountaine which burneth continually the fire flame whereof doth never faile no more then that of Mongibel in the time of Plinie who writeth that the flame thereof did never cease The cause of these fiers Lib. 2. not hist doth Aristotle well set downe and that in few words in his bookes of Meteors For as there be many places of the earth Lib. 2. Meteor that have store of matter combustible there needeth no more but a trembling and shaking of the earth which being stirred vp by an ayre that hath entred in by some chinks and empty poares of the earth striving to issue forth doth in an instant and at once moove and shake the mountaine and so by the stirring and agitation thereof doth set it on a fire the which doth subtilly evaporate it selfe and taketh it nourishment of the ayre so mooved and stirred And like as after great store of windes it often happeneth that a trembling or quaking of the earth doth succeede so after a long trembling and mooving of the earth it must needs happen that these mountains must of necessity fall on burning Now if it be so that the mountaines for the reasons before alleadged may cast and vomite vp flames of fire why should there be any difficultie but that those other fierie flames appearing in the night should by the same meane be evaporated out of the earth Certaine it is that Aristotle writeth how in some places the earth in the concavities thereof Lib. de Mendo. is no lesse replenished with fiers and with windes then it is with water And therefore as there are springs of water hidden in the earth which may even suddainly and at once spring vp and cast forth water in aboundance out of the earth so it is not to be doubted but that the fiers which have beene long hidden in the caverns and hollow places vnder the ground may sometimes issue forthe and having found a cleere and free passage may leape vp and downe and walke at some times through the region of the ayre neither more not lesse then doth the fire of Mongibel of Vesuvius and of Iseland Which easting vp throgh the ayre great globes of fire flaming And mounting to the heavens do sâ—oâ—â— most clooâ—â—ly blazing Lib. Aeneid That I may speake as doth the Poet Vergil Lib. 3. Aeâ—eid who being profoundly seene and exercised both in Philosophie and in all kinde of learning was not ignorant that these fiers were of such a nature as being cast out of the caverns of the earth The diffrence betvveene the fiers appearing in the night those of mountayns continually burning they be carried for a time through the ayre and yet some of them more forcibly and violently then the other For those fiers which are stirred vp within the mountaines as they have more spirits that do animate and give life vnto them if I may so speake so doe they issue forth more suddainely and wanderlesse in the ayre then do those night-flames that do strike vp gently from the earth How men are deceived and led to drowne themselves by night-flames appearing vnto them But will some say we see that these night-fiers do oftentimes deceive men and will leade them to some riveâ— pond or other water where they doe cause them sometimes to be drowned To this I answer that they which follow such night-fiers appearing vnto them either they do it voluntarie or by constraint If by constraint then without doubt they are no night-fiers which they do so follow after but they are some divells or ill spirits metamorphosed into the formes of fiers But if they doe willingly and voluntarilie follow them they cannot excuse themselves of follie and of ignorance for it is the nature of such fiers continually to seeke after water being their contrarie element And this is evident by those flames of Mongibel which do draw themselves rather towards the sea then any other place as testifieth Pindarus in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say That the flame of Mongibel â—d 1. Olimp. is carried roling and tumbling even into the maine and deepe sea And in that this Poet affirmeth that the flame roleth and so is carried to the sea This may leade vs as it were by the hand to know the nature of those night-fiers which as they that have seene them do say are round and doe go roling continually till they come neere some river or pond in the which they do suddaintly disappeare and vanish away Of Night-fires seene frequenting about gallovvs and the cause thereof But before I leave this discourse of these night-fiers I will speake of that which the dommon opinion holdeth touching them and that is how that sometimes they do appeare vnmoveable neere vnto gallowes and such like places of execution If this be true as we must needes give credite therevnto seeing so many persons do with one consent report it we may yeeld yet a farther naturall cause of such Night-flames and that is that they are bred and concreated of the fat and drie exhalation of the bodies there hanged which comming to evaporate and strike vp into the ayre doth grow to be enflamed by the same reason as the vapors exhalations dried from the earth and being in the middle region of the ayre do change themselves into fire and so doe cause the thunder Of flames of fire issuing out of trees and other things beating one against another But to continue on our purpose touching naturall fiers do we not see and that without mervailing that the tops of trees blustring or beating one against another do strike out flames of fire and that not without feare vnto such as travell by night Certaine it is that Thucidides doth esteeme this to be naturall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Lucretius speaketh thereof as of a thing which happeneth vsually and is done by the same reason as two stones stricken together each against other do cause fire and as two tables of Laurell or any other hard wood being rubbed together for a long time one against the other will likewise strike out sparckles of fire Homer writeth that Mercurie was the first that taught this vsage of making fire to come forth by the striking together of two staves or stickes of Laurell wood In himnâ— Mercurii And truely it is not vnlike that
vp and downe Wee say they are affected and altered according to the thinges which wee see and which are next vnto vs. As for example we perceiue I know not what salt humor being neere the Sea and in touching of Worme wood and of Rue we finde a kinde of bitternesse and when wee are neere a Smith we feele our teeth to gnash and to be set on edge at the noyse of his File or Saw wherewith hee worketh So likewise when these Images and figures do present themselues vnto vs wee cannot possibly abide nor suffer them but we finde our selues altered chaunged in our vnderstanding howbeit some more then other some For like as there be certaine seeds within the eyes of Cockes which shining and shooting into the eyes of the Lions doe so strike and pierce their eye-liddes and doe inflict vppon them such paine and griefe that they are constrained to flye from them being not able to abide or endure the sight of the Cocke So are there some men who haue their senses so apprehensiue and subtill that they cannot holde from being afraid when they see such vaine Images and figures before them Answere to the argument of Epicures touching the cause of feare at the sight of straÌ„ge Specters But hereunto we must giue them this aunswere that the feare which men haue by the sight of Specters or Spirites commeth in regarde that the thinges are vnaccustomed and admirable to the bodily senses not from any secret seeds which are coÌ„trary to our nature and much lesse from any naturall passion such as that is that wherewith men are touched that abide neere the Sea or those that see Rue or Wormewood or do heare the noyse of a Smithes file or sawe For if it were of any naturall passion that this feare proceeded then would not the partie terrified That the feare bred by the sight of Specters is because they are supernaturall and vnusuall be so confouÌ„ded astonished euen in the verie powers of the soule as it is commonly seene that men are at the sight of Specters or Spirits but rather he shuld be only moued by a certaine Antipathie or abhomination as Pomponatius calleth it and would onely abhor and flye from that which he so feareth Besides thinges that are supernaturall doe much more touch the senses of man then those things doe That Antipathies thinges which are naturally abhorring to men are by a secret cause in nature concealed and vnknowne In Problemat proanno which are naturall Neither are they to be compared with such things as hauing a natural cause howbeit secret doe happen to be seene daily and ordinarily Now I say that the cause of these things though naturall is secret For Alexander Aphrodiseus speaking of the noyse of the File and how it setteth the teeth on edge with other things of like nature saith that Nature hath reserued the reason thereof vnto her owne secret knowledge not being willing toimpart the cause thereof vnto men The like may bee affirmed of the greatest part of those Antipathies which being concealed from men yet cannot come of any secret seedes that are contrary or enemies to nature as the Epicures dote but are hidden in the secret Magazin or Store-house of Nature which hath not reuealed or laide the same open vnto any person Who can tell the reasoÌ„ why the Conciliatour otherwise called Peter de Albano did abhorre milke Why Horace and Iaques de Furly could not abide garlike nor Cardan could away with Egges And why that Gentleman of Gascoigne of whome Iulius Caesar Scaliger speaketh could not abide the sound of a Violl And of this latter in Cardan you may read the Historie The Phisitian Scaliger writeth how hee himselfe knew a GentlemaÌ„ his neighbor which had in him such an Antipathy at the sound of a Vyoll that as soone as euer he heard it were he in any company Another Gen. of this quality liued of late in Deuon neere Excesâ—er who could not endure the playing on a Bagpipe euen of the best fort and that either at table or elsewhere hee was constrayned to forsake the place and to go away to make water Now it happened that certaine Gentlemen hauing of along time perceiued and known this strange nature and disposition in him did one day inuite this Gent. to dine with them and hauing prouided and suborned a certain Minstrel of purpose they caused him to be kept close till the appointed dinner time when being set at Table they had so placed the Gent. in the middest of them as it was not possible for him to get forth Now as they were in the middest of their dinner in came the Fidler and began to strike vp his Violl neere vnto the Gent. he that neuer heard the sound of that InstrumeÌ„t but was presently takeÌ„ with an extreame desire to pisse grew into an exceeding great paine for being not able to get from the table nor daring to lay open his imperfection to the whole company the poore man shewed by the often change of his countenance in what pitiful case and paine he was But in the end hee was constrayned to yeelde to the present mischiefe and to reueale his imperfection Hee that should vndertake to search and finde out the cause of this so admirable an Antipathie I assure me selfe hee should bee as long a time about it as was Aristotle in seeking out the cause of the Flowing and Ebbing of the Seas whereof haue written Gregorie Nazianzon Iustine Martyr Eusebius and others and yet he could neuer learne the certaine cause thereof But as touching the reason why the Lion doth flye from the Cocke It commeth not from any seedes that lye hidden within the eyes of the Cocke which from thence should strike into the eyes and hurt the sight of the Lion The reason why the Lion flieth from the Cocke but it is by a kinde of Antipathie whereof we haue formerly spoken By which also the Eliphant doth fly from the Hogge and the Horse from the Stone Taraxippe Or else it is for that the Cocke and the Lion partaking both of them of the nature of the Sun but the Cock more then the Lion It happeneth that the Lion perceiuing it doth presently flie from him as the valiant Hector is saide to flie before Achilles who was more braue and more warlike then he Or else it is because the Cocke being a celestiall fowle and the Lion a terrestriall creature and of a grosser matter hauing the Spirits more sensitiue and brutall then the other doth therefore by nature yeeld and giue place to that which is more excellent And this reason seemeth vnto me in some sort allowable the rather for that those Diuels which are of a more materiall and terrestriall nature and bee called Diuels of the Sunne do flye the voyce of the Cocke aswell as the Lion as Psellus teacheth vs And thus in my opinion you see sufficiently how all the Arguments and foolish
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
the body And so in like manner it is not in the power of any Angell or divell to vnite themselves to any body as the forme thereof but they may well take a body whereof they may be the mooving cause and if a man may so speake as the figure of the figure Their fist Argument They affirme moreover that betweene the body assumed if I may vse this word and the party assuming there ought to be some proportion and similitude But betweene an Angell or divell and a body there is not any proportion for both the one and the other are of divers kindes and by consequent both of them are incompatible together Answer to their fist Argument To this I answer That if the proportion be taken according to the quantitie greatnes measure there is no proportion betweene the Angells or divells a body because their greatnesse is not of one and the same kinde nor of one and the same consideration Notwithstanding nothing can let but that there may be a certaine habitude of an Angell to a body as of a thing that mooveth to the motion and of a thing figured to the figure the which may be termed a proportion The sixt Argument Another Argument they make which is this No substance finite whatsoever it be can have many operations together An Angell is a substance finite and therefore it cannot both minister vnto vs and take to it selfe a body together Answer to their fixt Argument But this is easily dissolved for I say that these two operations To take a body and to serve in their ministerie are ordained mutually to the Angells And therefore nothing hindreth them but that the Angells may vse both of them at once Their seaventh Argument and together Againe they inferre that if Angells and divells do take a body eyther it is a Celestiall Body or some other having the nature of some of the foure Elements Now the Angells cannot take a Celestiall Body for that the Body of the heaven cannot devide it selfe nor cannot make any abstraction from it selfe much lesse can the divells have that power seeing the Angells have it not Besides they cannot take vnto them a body of Fire for then they should consume and burne the bodie neere to which they doe approach much lesse can they take a body of the Ayre for that is not figurable neyther can they take any bodie that is a moveable Element and retaineth no forme nor yet by the same meane can they have a Terrestriall bodie for we see it written how the Angels do very soone sodainly vanish away out of sight as it appeared by that angel which came to Tobias And the divels also when they shew themselves in any aparition can in a moment withdraw themselues from the sight of men And therefore being vnable and vnapt to take vpon them any body eyther Elementarie or Celestiall It must needes follow that they appeare not at all Answer to their seaventh Argument To this I answer That the Angells and divells may take a body of any Element whatsoever and which themselves will yea and of many Elements mixt together Neverthelesse it is most likely to be true and the common opinion is What kinde of body Angells divells take vnto them when they appeare that they doe soonest of all take vnto them a bodie of the ayre by thickning the same and forming it of vapors that mount and arise from the earth and in turning and mooving it at their pleasure as the winde mooveth the clowds being able to make the same to disappeare and vanish away againe whensoever they will by reason that it is nothing but a vapor Their eight Argument But yet this will not satisfie them but they go further saying That every assumption of a body is limited and bounded with some Vnion But of an Angel and of a body there cannot be made any of those Three meanes of vnity of which Aristotle speaketh For they cannot bee made one by Continuation by Inseparabilitie Lib. 1. Phisico nor by Reason To this a man may answer as before That there is not any vnion in the assumption of a body by an Angel For if there were a vnion then in truth that which Aristotle speaketh should bee requisite betweene the Angel and the body which it assumeth But there is not betweene them any vnion save onely that which is of a thing mooving to the thing mooved as wee have before affirmed Againe the good Angells say they in appearing vnto vs eyther do take True Figures visible and palpable or such as are altogether False Their ninth Argument If they have such as be True it should then follow that if they appeare in a humane body then they do assume a True humane body But this is impossible vnlesse we should say That an Angell may enter into the body of a man which is a thing not convenient nor agreeable vnto the Angelicall Nature And if they have False Figures this would be much more vnfitting and vnbeseeming them for that all feyning and dissembling or any kinde of fiction is very vnseemely in the Angells of Truth And therefore in what sorte and fashion it bee the Angells cannot take any Body vpon them Answer to their ninth Argument To this obiection I answer That the bodies which the Angells do take have True and vnfeyned formes so farre forth as they may be seene and perceived by the senses be it in their colour or their Figure but not according to the nature of their kinde For that cannot become sensible but by accident That therefore is no cause why a man should say that there is any fiction and feyning in the Angells for they do not oppose set before our eyes humane shapes and formes because thereby they would bee thought and esteemed to be men but to the end that by their humane properties we should know the vertues of the Angells And like as Metaphorras speeches are not therefore any whit the sooner to be reputed false in which by the similitude of things other significations are comprehended So the figures and formes of Angells are not false because they are taken and assumed to the similitude and semblance of men More then so they reply that the Angells and divells by the vertue of their Nature Their tenth Argument cannot worke or create any effects within humane bodies save only by the meanes of their naturall vertues But their naturall vertues cannot be in things corporall to forme any Figure of a humane body but onely by the vsuall and determined meane of generation to wit by the seede naturally ordayned to that effect in which sort the Angells and divells cannot take a body vpon them And the same reason and consideration is there of other figures of carthly bodies also which they take vnto them But heerevnto this answer may be made them That albeit the naturall vertues of a body
minde of man Plinie reciteth that alittle above the countrey of Zeland Lib. 16. cap. 1. there are certaine forrests full of huge great and high Oakes the which being rooted vp by the tempestuousnesse of windes or stormes or by the waves and billowes of the sea doe carry with their rootes a great masse of earth which dooth counterpoise them in such forte as a man shall see those great oakes to swimme vppe and downe the sea with their huge boughes and braunches Certainely if they should be seene in that manner in the night time and that therewithall any feare or superstition did surprise men vpon the sight of them It is not to be doubted but they would be thought to be divells and ill spirites Now if the feare alone of seeing such thinges have caused the fantasie of those that have saâ—led on that coast so farre to erre as they have imagined them to be armies by sea And if the Romans themselves when they sawe as Plinie writeth these trees to come directly vpon them have prepared themselves to battell and have set in a readinesse all their warrelike engines and disposed their fights and their grapples supposing that the same had beene their enemies What shall wee then thinke of such as should have been superstitiously affected in seeing them Would not they trowe you have bin terrified beyond all comparison when they should imagine them to be not enemies but even Divelles let loose So likewise if they should see the Lakes of Cecubo Lib. 8. epist 10 and of Reate and that same wherof Plinie the yonger maketh so much adoe in his Epistles calling it Lacus Vadimonis and which the Italians at this day name the Lake of Bassanello what would they thinke or imagine of it These lakes have many Islands that sloate and moove vp and downe with the winde no otherwise than as a ship tosled too and fro by the waves and surges of the sea And the same Plinie dooth so farre advaunce this lake of Bassanello as hee dareth to compare it with all the myracles of Achaia Aegipt or Asia that have beene so famously reported and spread abroade of them in all partes of the world And the trueth is That Pliny the elder Lib. 2. Natur. hist cap. 95. Lib. 3. Nat. qu. Lib. natural auscult Lib. 9. Decad. 1 Seneca Aristotle and Titus Livius do make notable reportes of this Lake as being such wherein a thing so marvellous in nature dooth happen vsually and commononly Neverthelesse they which should see those Isles thus to moove in this manner not knowing before that the same were naturall they would entertaine many and diverse apprehensions in their fantasie would imagine that they sawe a thing very strange and prodigious Of naturall fiery Ilands that seeme prodigious Phantosmes and Specters by which the sight is deceived and such as did very neere approach to the nature of some Specter and vision But what shall we say to those Sighte fierie Flames which appearing in the night do seeme to wander from place to place A man cannot better compare these fiers then to Torches which young men vse in Maskes to carry by night in divers troopes and companies in the time of their Shroving or Carnevall feasts For as a man shall sometimes see their lights ioyned all together and sometimes seperated and devided farre asunder according as they doe either conioyne or seperate themselves in sundry bands so is it with these lights and fierie flames appearing by night that sometimes they will seeme to gather together in a heape and make shew as if there were but one bright shining light and sodainely againe they will be dispersed and devided asunder each from other making divers and sundry lights and as if they were vanishing away in severall fiers beginning to grow dimme more and more and lesse lightsome Of the cause of fiery flames appearing from th' earth in the night time These fierie flames as I have said so wandring and running vp and downe are not without a certaine feare and terror vnto passengers howbeit a man may assigne vnto them a naturall cause why they be so For the naturall Philosophers do hold that from the earth there doe proceede certaine thicke and grosse exhalations the which are soone and easily kindled and set on fire That matter which is of a sulphurious and hote nature and lyeth hidden in the veines and secret corners of the earth if alittle ayre do pierce thorough and come neere vnto it on a suddaine it commeth to be set on fire seeking meanes to issue out and to breake forth of the earth And doe we not see in certaine places of some countries that the fire doth arise and issue forth of the earth in exceeding height like vnto a great tree and as suddainely againe to be extinct and consumed But this is naturall and ought to bee referred vnto the Gummie and fatte matter which being fired doth issue out of the veines of the earth seeking to evaporate it selfe in some one place or other In those places where there is store of Sulphre or Brimstone which is a kind of hot matter in the nature of mettall The reason that the fire doth not so soone die and extinguish it selfe is because it hath a nourishment that doth hold on and indure with a longer continuance Those that sayle by the coasts of Sicely and of Malta can report yet at this day how that the Isle Abrocan Of divers hils that burne with fire which doth a farre off discover it selfe to the Saylers is continually in a fire and smoake And histories are full every where that in times past the Hill Mongibel did burne night and day And Pindarus affirmeth that by night the fire of this mountaine was very cleere and bright-shining and in the day was clowdie and dimme as is also at this day the Isle Abrocan The mountaine Vesuvius not farre distant from Naples in the time of Titus Vespasian did cast vp fire and flames in such abundance that all the countâ—ie and the inhabitants round about were destroyed by it their Townes and Villages being left desolate and burned and those fields that were from thence somewhat farther off were all covered and filled with dust and ashes And this is testified by Saint Ierome Plinie the younger and Dion the Historiographer And it is not vnknowne how that Plinie the second being desirous to vnderstand and to search out the cause of the burning of this mountaine as he approached neere vnto it being by nature fat and corpulent he was suddainely smothered or as I rather beleeve hee fell into an Apoplexye to the which grosse and fat men most commonly are subiect especially when they vse not any exercise as Plinie did not being a man wholie addicted to studie and learning And to returne to those two mountaines Mongibel did burne in the yeare 1537. it is very certaine that even of late in the time of our fathers they did
he learned it by seeing how the woodes by beating each against other through the continuall motion and agitation of the windes do sparkle out from them flames of fire Againe be there not also some pretious stones as the Carnaliâ—e the Rubie the Carbuncle the Carchedonie or the Garnet Of stones and other things shining like flames of fire in the night and other such like pretious stones that do shine in the night like fire In Scotland there is a kinde of rotten wood which in the night shineth verie cleere and bright and the like doe woods that are worme eaten There be some creatures as Woolves and Cats which have their eyes so fier it and flaming in the night that they will make even the most hardie to be afraide I have heard of Monsieur de Laundy Gualtier a Councellor in the Court of Parliament of Brittaine that neere vnto one of his manours he had a countrie house or farme within the which there haunted a Cat so terrible and frightfull that such as saw her by night did fall in a swound for very feare some would have bin of opinion that it was some Sorcerer metamorphosed or some wicked spirit if the said Lord of Launay being a gentleman of good spirit and one that could not be made beleeve that it was any other then a natural Cat had not found the meane to cause the same Cat to betaken by a ginne and being so slaine it was then apparant that the feare conceived thereof was but meerely vaine and without cause There bee certaine wormes that vse to appeare in Autumne which the Greekes call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Latines Cicindelas which do shine so cleerely in the night that those which know not that there bee such creatures would be verie doubtfull what to thinke if they should happen to see them But these wormes are nothing to speake of in comparison of that little Flie which is bred in the new world within the Island of Hispaniola appertaining to the Spanâ—ards This creature is of the bignes of a Beetle or Horse-flie and they which have seene of them doe esteeme it to be indeede a kinde of Horse-flie But vpon the matter it doth shine by night verie cleerely in all partes of her bodie but principally in the eyes the which in regard of the smalnesse of her bodie are verie exceeding great those her eyes are so bright-shining that a man may write and reade by their light The report is that the Indians do banquet in the night time by the light thereof a thing so strange and admirable that if the Spanish Historiographers did not report the same with one generall consent a man would scarcely credite it Of naturall ayrie things and vapors that seeme Phantosmes or Spectere and deceive the sight But to come from fierie things to other naturall vapors that come from the earth it is verie certaine that the ayre doth sometimes create those of vapors forms so mervailous that any man would take them for Prodigies or Specters When Silla entred into Italie with his armed forces there were seene two clowdes or vapors having the forme of Goates fighting one against another neere vnto the Mount Epheum in Campania Of a strange clowde or vapor appearing to Silla the Romans the which afterwards mounting aloft from the earth did spread and scatter themselves into divers partes and in the end vanished quite away not without the great wonder and astonishment of Silla and all his Armic And yet Plutarch saith that this was but a thing meerely naturall In vita Sillae because that after it became to be scattered abroade in the ayre it presently lost that imaginarie forme which it before represented And what shall we say to those vapors which do naturally happen in the desarts of Libia Of strange vapors vsuall in Barbarie their causes neere vnto one of those great Sands of Barbarie called Syrtis Magna Those vapors doe make an impression in the ayre of sundry bodies and formes of many creatures which sometimes will seeme not to stirre a foote from the place where they are and sometimes againe will moove themselves verie strangely as if they were either flying from or pursuing of some persons Dioâ—orâ—â— Siculus saith that these impressions of formes are of an infinite greatnesse Lib. 3. Biblioth and extending in great length and that they doe bring great feare and perturbation of minde to such as are notâ—sed to the sight of them For they pursue men saith he and after that they have gotten to them they doe disperse themselves over all their bodies in an extreame colde which is the cause that Marchants strangers passing by that coast one in great feare of them whereas on the contrarie theâ—â— hâ—bitants of that Country who doe often see such things doe make small accompt or do rather laugh at them Some have studied to render a reson of this so strange a marvell though it have seemed to be helde almost in manner as a fable And they say That in this Region there are stirring few or no windes at all or if there be any that they be very weake and warme and that the ayre there is very calme and quiet because there are no woodes nor shady vallies round about nor any hills distant and seperated one from another nor yet any Rivers great or small wherewith the plaine should be watered and refreshed nor any fertile landes nor exhalations nor odours from all which the windes do take their beginning and originall So that this whole Countrey being round about on all sides very hote and warme It happeneth like as wee see it fall out in the hote summer dayes when the warme south winde most raigneth That in every place there are bredde and created little cloudes which doe take diverse formes according to the different Impressions the fire receiveth And these cloudes being carried by those slowe and weake warme winds do sometimes mount aloft and sometimes leap vp and downe sometimes do move themselves by other such like motions agitations When they are not born vp by any wind they do stay neere to the earth thicke and formed as they were aloft And having nothing that is able to seatter and dissolve them They doe of themselves approach and drawe nie to such persons as they first happen to encounter Not that I inferre hereby That the ayre hath any election of motion in it selfe for that is impossible in nature That any thing without a soule shoulde voluntarily and of it selfe bee driven to moove it selfe or that it should either pursue or shunne it selfe but it is rather the persons that doe cause the same to moove And so is it of those clowdes formed in the ayre which doe make a shew and countenaunce as if they did follow or give place to those persons that doe come againâ—â— them who doe scatter and chase them on all sides with the violence and motion of
their bodies And on the contrary they doe pursue such as recule and goe from them And by conversion of the cause it hapneth that beeing drawne by the raritie and vacuitie of the precedent motion They doe seeme to runne after such as go from them who staying or returning are incontinently abashed when they see themselves touched with the same and that these clowds before they light or fall vpon the ground do spread themselves very cold over all their bodies Of the Eclipses of the Sun the Moone and the causes thereof But to leave these airie vapours and to go alittle higher even to the body of the Moone what shall wee say to the superstition of the antient Romans who were so abashed and astonished at the eclipse thereof That wee reade howe sometimes an whole armie was stricken into feare and amazement by the sight of the same insomuch as they vsed to call and ring her with the sound of abason vntill such time as she were returned to her former shape and forme as witnesseth Plutarch In vita parili Amily Corneous Tacitus and Ovid. And the same Tacitus recounteth That in the beginning of the raigne of Tiberius In lib. 1. Amia certaine garrisons of Roman Souldiers vppon the Frontires of Germanie being revolted The thing that did most terrifie and astonish them and reduced them to their former duty obedience was an eclipse of the moone which put them in a fansie and conceipt that the gods were angry and displeased with them for that their enterprise And yet neverthelesse the cause of the Moones eclipse is knowne to be mecrely naturall without anie prodigiousnes at all in it For it is most certaine That the shadowe of the earth being opposed against the moone makes the eclipse thereof like as the moone being opposed against the sunne dooth make the eclipse of the sunne It is not therefore to be thought any strange matter if at this day there be many men that take all things vnknowne vnto them to be Specters and Prodigies and 〈◊〉 they be afraide of them without day iust occasion Of strange sights hapning in the seas yet naturall Psal 106. But what will such men say if they should saile on the seas where the woonderfull woorkes of God as David saith are more common and manifest than on the earth They would imagin themselves to be in another world and to heare and see other things than they are accustomed to doe in the earth Sometimes they shall see the fire which the Saylers call Saint Hermes to flie vppon their shippe and to alight vppon the toppe of the mast And sometimes they shall perceive a winde that stirreth vp such stormes The winde called Ecnephia as will runne round about their shippe and play about it in such sorte as by the hurling and beating of the clowdes will raise vppe a fire that will burne vppe the yardes the sayles and the tacklings of the shippe And of these windes Saint Luke speaketh in the Actes of the Apostles Acts 27. Sometimes the billowes of the sea will raise them even to the clowdes and in a moment east them downe againe to the botome of the sea sometimes they shall heare the roaring of the waves beating against the rockes the banckes and the cliffes vpon the sea shoare so as they shall be heard farre off not without great feare and astonishment as is to be seene by Charibdis and Silla on the coast of Sicily and by that great and terrible noyse of the sea-waves which beates on a rocke lying in the sea a seaventeene or eighteens leagues from Burdeaux and by the Frenchâ—â—en is called Les Asues de Burdeaux And if a man should faile into the sea of Amorica howe many sortes of whales shall he see farre differing from those which are in our Ocean sometimes they will be sâ—â—â—e like vnto a round wheele and fodainely like vnto a sharpe cutting sawe And others againe may beseeâ—â— to pursue and follow after a ship without leaving or forsaking it for a long time And in the sea of Mâ—â—â—day how many whales be there and monstrous fishes which may even astonish those that soe them To be 〈◊〉 There is nothing but will minister vnto them occasion either of feare or of admiration as by seeing maiters strange and vnvsuall to their sight so that a man may say of them as Sinesius say de of the Labians In Epistolis that wondred at the small breasts of the women which were with him in his shippe whom they never desisted from gazing and looking vppon by way of admiration The reason whereof the same Author yeeldeth to be this because the Libian women have their breasts so huge and great that they vse to give sucke vnto their infants over their shoulders The like woulde happen no doubt vnto these men that doe so superstitiously admire and stand in feare of all things that are strange and vnvsuall vnto them and to whome nothing is naturall but that which they see to happen and fall out daily and accustomably in their sight Of naturall things that deceive the sense of hearing But to come from the sense of seeing to that of the hearing how often is that also deceived in taking things naturall for other than they be indeede The Eccho is a sound proceeding from the voyce rebounding and striking backe againe either in forrests and woodes or valleis or hollow places of the sound of the Eccho or else by reason of the extreme heate in time of summer and yet neverthelesse how often and especially in the night season hath it deceived such persons as have thought it to be some other thing rather than an Eccho The historie recorded by Cardan of a friend of his a Counsellor of Come who thought he should have beene drowned by mistaking on Eccho in steede of a man is sufficiently well knowne Lib. 18. de subtilitate Howbeit Cardan had reason to esteeme that his friend for a very simple and senslesse man for if hee had considered never so little with advisement the voyce of the Eccho hee might easily have discovered that which deceived him And that it was no difficult matter to be discovered it is manifest in this That the Eccho aunswered him in the same termes and in the same accent that hee demanded namely by way of Interrogation and Demaund saying Shall I passe heere Whereas if it had beene a man hee would have aunswered without demaunding Passe here Now vpon this discourse of that Eccho Cardan telleth how in the great church of Pavis there is an Eccho that yeeldeth diverse voyces ever decreasing and lessening till that the last voyce thereof shall be heard without being distinctly and certainely discerned being much like vnto the voyce or groning of one that is a dying in such sorte saieth Cardan as a man woulde scarce beleeve that it were an Eccho In li. de varieta rerum But if hee that hath travelled
of a long time forborne them and endured all the bravadoes and inventions that they could devise when at the last they vsed vnto him this speech Guido tu rifiuti desser di nostra brigata ma eccò quando in aurai trouvato que Iddio non sia che aurai fatto Wherevpon he retyring himselfe from them made them this answer Signori voi mipotetâ— dire à casa vostra cio che vipiace that is my Maisters you may say vnto me being at your owne home what you please meaning by that gentle frumpe that the sepulchres and churchyardes were the dwelling houses of such as they who molested him that is that they were little better then as dead men because they were ignorant and enemies to the learned Such an aunswer as this you shall hardly finde amongst all the Greekes and Democritus might well have spoken it to them that went about to make him afraide Notwithstanding the answer that he gave them did so touch them that knowing thereby his great constancie and assurance they left him in his sepulchre without counterfaiting themselves any more for spirits to molest or trouble him Common places of execution suspected for spirits to walke in Next after Sepulchres and Churchyardes the Gibets or common places of executions are greatly feared of the vulgar sort who do thinke that spirits do haunt and frequent there also And for that cause such fooles doe never cease haunting those places of purpose to feare and terrifie such as passe neere vnto the same To make short those places are so frightfull in the night time to some fearefull and timorous persons that if they heare the voyce of any person neere the place where any be hanging they will thinke it is their spirits or ghosts that doe walke thereabouts I remember me of a good iest which was once tolde me how in the Country of Mayne there was a fellow a notorious thiefe and murtherer well knowne vnto all his neighbours who by the sentence of the Lievetenant for criminall causes hee committed in Mauns was condemned to be hanged and strangled and was sent from thence backe to his owne Village wherein he dwelled to be executed and there to be set on a Gibbet standing vpon the high way from Mauns Some few dayes after his execution a certaine man travelling that way where his bodie hanged found himselfe verie sore wearied and laid him downe to rest vnder a tree not farre from the Gibbet But hee was scarse well setled to his ease when sodainly behold there commeth by another passenger that was going towards Mauns and as he was right over against the gallowes where the dead body hanged whom the partie knew well when he was alive he called him by his name and demanded of him with an high and lowde voyce as iesting at him if he would go with him to Mauns The man that lay vnder the tree to rest himselfe being to goe to Mauns likewise was very glad that he had found companie and said vnto the other Stay for me a little and I will goe with you The other to whom he spake thinking it was the theefe that spake vnto him hasted him away as fast as he could possible The man vnder the tree arising vp ranne after him as fast with a desire to overtake him and still he cried Stay for mee stay for mee but the other had not the leasure For his feare had set him in such a heate thinking still that the dead thiefe followed him at the heeles that he never left posting till he was quite out of breath Then was he forced to stay whether hee would or no and to abide till the other that followed did overtake him who by his presence brought him to be againe of good courage when he saw that his feare was meerely vaine and senselesse Now although as I have saide Churchyardes Sepulchres and Gibbets be common and vsuall places where vnhappie youthes doe make their resort to play the spirits yet so it is that sometimes their audaciousnesse passeth further Of counterfait spirits that vse to haunt mens houses for good cheere or lasciviousnes even to the dwellings and houses of men wher they have a hope either to carowse the good wine or to inioy their lascivious loves And thereof commeth the old French proverbe On sont filettes et bon vin Cest la où haute le lutin That is Where prettie wenches be and store of good wine There do the night-sprights haunt from time to time The tales of the Queene of Navarre and of Boccace are full of these dissembled spirits such as in the end have beene discovered not without receiving the due chastisement of their deserts And it is not to be doubted that if the true meaning of our lawes were pursued and duely followed Directarios qui in aliena caenacula furandi animo se conferunt Li. Sacularis D. de extraord crimimbus such lewd persons should bee as grievously punished yea and more severely then simple theeves For I know not better how to terme them than plain manifest Burglarers who do enter violently into other mens dwelling houses with an intent of stealing little other then felonious to whom our Civill Lawyers have appointed this punishment that either they should be sent to digge in the Mynes of mettalls or at least to suffer the Bastinado But that paine is too easie and gentle for them and I may well say that their behaviour doth deserve to bee punished with death as all privie and secret theâ—ves are according to the quantitie of the summe the qualitie of the persons and the circumstances of the places For their Act is farre more heinous then simple theft or fellowe Forasmuch as besides that they go with an intent to robbe and spoyle they do endevour also to sollicite and overthrow the honour and honest reputation of women of the which both the one and the other is punishable and especially if there happen any adulterie for that alone deserveth paines of death It is not once nor seldome that such sort of spirits have beene discovered by the Magistrate and sharply punished according to the exigence of the cause either with death or perpetuall infamie But it is not in our age and daies onely that these pranckes have beene vsed but even almost two thousand yeares ago or thereabouts Plautus in his Comedie intituled Mostelaria faineth how by a cunning sleight and devise of a servant an olde man his maister was made beleeve as hee came home from out of the Country that the spirits did haunt his house and that therefore both his sonne and he had forsaken and abandoned the same in his absence And this the servant did that he might the better cover and conceale the loose and dissolute behaviour of the sonne from the father and the better to colour the sale which bee had made of the house Of counterfait spirits affrighting folkes causing the death of persons by their
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
next day the Magistrates of the Towne assembled together and entred into the house where this good busbandrie had been shewed and did very sharpely reproove these young gallants but they being not as yet throughly wakened out of their frannke fitte aunswered that they would sooner make choice to cast away any thing into the sea even all that they had in their Galley rather than they would perish and be cast away themselves by shipwracke Nowe as every man began to wonder at this their blockish senselesnesse and to seâ— both their memory and fantasie so farre out of frame The greatest parte of these frantique youths beganne to speake severally vnto the magistrates and said You my Maisters the Tritons when the tempest was most violent and extreame doe you know what I did the whilst I quoth one of them for feare did get me vnder the hatches and I said another did hide my selfe close in a corner of the ship vpon these and such like speeches they seemed to the whole company to be out of their wits which made the Magistrates as they were readie to leave them and to depart away only to give them a gentle admonition that they did not any more commit such follies But they as if they would have yeelded them thankes for â—heir good counsell answered the Magistrates as they were going away you my maisters the Tritons if wee can possibly get into any good haven or harbour after this tempest is once past we will promise vnto you faithfully and doe make a solemne vow that when we come into our owne Country wee will erect statues vnto you as vnto the gods of the sea that have helped and succoured vs. Without all doubt these foolish young men were not onely deprived of their naturall and common sense but they were also wounded in their imaginative power and in their memory likewise neither knowing who themselves were nor what they did The especiall and chiefe marke of the Phrensie Lib. 5. de locis effect cap. 3. Now the principall maâ—ke of the Phrensie is that in the declining and departing of the Fever as Galen writeth the dotage and idle conceipt is not any thing the more taken away but doth still persever and continue because that the braine being once hurt and offended doth not easily come againe to it former estate and temper Of the difference beetweene the Phrensie proceeding from the brain and that which commeth from the lower part of the breast And this is the cause why some both of the antient and moderne Phisitians have confounded with that phrensie which proceedeth from the braine that also which hath it originall from the lower part of the breast which the Latines call Septum Transversale and the Greeks as Homer amongst others do name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sure it is that Plato doth put this lower part of the breast as a bound betweene the part Irascible and the Appetitive part in man in such sort as the same should participate both of the one and the other And that therefore when it doth once by any hote and distempered humor send vp her fumes into the braine it doth never faile to trouble and confound the imagination or that I may speake as Aristotle doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De partibus Animal And surely there is not any great difference betweene that and the Phrensie that commeth from the braine for both of them are of long continuance neither doth any of them end with the ending and departure of the Fever Now this is not so in those idle conceipts and apprehensions that proceede from any vicious or corrupted humour setled in the mouth or entrie of the Ventricle or of any hote Fevers or by reason of some Pleuresie or such like infirmitie because those do grow to be mitigated and asswaged as soone as the maladie is appeased But as touching that Phrensie that proceedeth from the lower part of the breast or Sept Transversall the which receiveth a hote and distempered humour and so troubleth the minde There is an historie in Lucian which relateth how that the inhabitants of Abdera Quomâ—do seribenda historia in a certaine time of extreame and fervent heate being assembled to have a tragedy acted by Players on a Theater having staied to heare it longer then willingly they would have done they fell all of them into a hote burning Fever which declined into a verie Frensie such as made them to doe nothing all day long but sing and chaunt tragicall verses as if they themselves had beene playing vpon the Theater Assuredly this follie of the Abderitanes proceeded not so much of the braine as from the Transversall parts of the breast to the which some extreame hote humour once cleaving and adhering did cause and engender a franticke Fever the which though it were asswaged and appeased yet for all that did not the maligne effects thereof cease but endured a long time after the Fever Whereas if such an idle and foolish conceipt had proceeded onely of some hote Fever or other such like accidents of sickenesse whereof we have before spoken then would it have ceased and discontinued as the Fever did decline and decease and it would not have remained any longer in the braine then as a cause of the infirmitie and disease But this shall suffice to be spoken as concerning the Frensie and such foolish conceipts as are incident to them that are troubled with the Fever We will now come to intreate of the furious Melancholy or Madnesse and of the causes thereof Of the Melancholike Fury or Madnesse and the originall causes thereof To say the trueth the furie Melancholie dooth take his originall principally of a blacke cholerike humour which is exceeding sharpe and biting or rather of a kinde of blacke corrupt blood like as Galen saith to that pitch or Bitumme which is bred in Iudea and is much more bright and shining then the pure blood The words of Galen are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 4. Aphr 23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in another place hee saith farther That this blacke and cholericke blood is so colde and liquid that it can never settle nor fasten together and it is so sharpe and biting as any viniger De atra Bile And like as so saith Calen in another place in the dead sea of Iudea where that Bitumen groweth no creature can live So this blood is so sharpe and biting that no man can suffer and indure it but that his braine will be altered and distempered with it And commonly the accidents do follow the nature of such a blood For like as by the blacknes therof it doth symbolize and in a sort resemble the darkenesse so saith Hypocrates In like sort neither more nor lesse do melancholique persons love solitarinesse and horrour De Insania as Belephoron who as Homer writeth had beene so stirred with melancholie Iliad 3. as he fled
frensie But hee continued so long this his maner and fashion that his maister in the end had espied it and having discovered the same God knoweth what delight and pleasure hee tooke at it and what sporte hee made when hee woulde tell and declare it vnto others This poore Horse-keeper seeing himselfe and his humour discovered would not abide any longer with his Maister who knew him to be a very good servant for any promise or rewarde that hee made or offered vnto him because hee sawe himselfe to be deprived of his pleasant folly and idle fancie Of madnesse growing through choler and blood mingled and disturbing the braine As touching those mad-men in whom choler is mingled with blood they are of a quite different disposition from the former for they are furious hardie iniurious insolent and readie to strike hurt and wound men And the more that choler doth abound in their braine the more dangerous and mischeevous they are And especially when the choler doth boyle burne in the braine and commeth to be adust thicke and clammie adhering and sticking to the ryme or skinne of the braine then they grow so furious that they differ little or nothing from wild mad beasts in such sort that a man shal see some of them to wound beat outrage themselves to eate their owne flesh to pursue even their neere kinsfolkes friends and familiars as if they were their greatest enemies These kinde of furious mad-men are very frequent and common in the Southerne Countries yea even in Italie towards Abruzza Apulia Calabria and Naples where the ayre is more hote then elsewhere There are to be seene monasteries wherein such frantike mad folkes whom they call men feâ—tred or Mati de Cadena are shut vp and enclosed In France which is a Region very temperate you shall seldome see this kinde of mad-men who are to be kept vp tyed and bound as they vse them in Italie Marâ—cco Fez Tremisan and other countries towards the South Of lumatikes or madnesse growing by fits at severall times Finally there be yet besides the former another sort of mad-men which have intermissions and times of vacancie from their fits or maladie of madnesse some of which have them onely two or three times in the yeere and others more often according to the Moones whom the Greekes Mat. 4.17 as also the Evangelist Saint Mathew call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Lunatiques These for that they are but seldom at times taken with their fits of madnes are called Enthusiastiques that is Ful of divine Furie or Fanaticall in whom the cause of their maladie proceedeth because they abound in heate neere about the Intellectuall part In Problem as Aristoâ—le writeth Such were the Sibills and the Bacchantes or Mimallonides the Galls and Coribants who were said to receive some god into their breastes And those Galls and Corybantes did at times and by fits grow so furious and frantike as in their furie they would cut off their owne genitalls which Ovid Catullus and others doe testifie like as also the Priests of Baal and of Isis would cut launce and wound their owne armes legs with knives 3. Reg. 18. De Asinâ— Aur. as is to be see one in the bookes of Kings and in Apuleius The like at this day doe the Dervises in Turkie Of the Corybantes are come these Greeke words testifying and discovering their passion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say To Corybantise to make the leape parillous to shake the hairâ— or lockes and as the common speech is to nodde or cast the head to the dogges Of these kindes of persons doth Vlpian speake where hee decideth it that those servants which have at any time beene possest with any furious humour of folly and have vsed to yeelde aunswers neere vnto any Temples in shaking and nodding their heads as fooles they are not to be held faultie and being once bought and sold they are not subiect to redhibition by the law of the Roman Magistrates Ediles Curules And this shall suffice to be spoken both as touching the externall senses corrupted as also concerning the fantasie altered and offended or perished by divers accidents of any maladie either corporall or spirituall It is now requisite that we ioyne together the senses both externall and internall which is the phantasie imagination And that we shew what persons are subiect most commonly to receive aswell in their corporall senses as in their spirituall false imaginations and vaine phantosmes and to have their mindes troubled with madnesse melancholie and frensie CHAP. XI What persons are most commonly subiect to receive false Imaginations and Phantosmes and to have the Braine troubled and distracted IT is commonly seene that feare doth engender in the hearts of such men as are subiect to fearefull impressions many false perswasions and wrong imaginations And for this cause feareful persons do shew themselves to be trobled in their minds with feare terror Two sorts of fearefull persons for that which hath no apparance of truth veritie Now there be two sorts of fearefull persons the one of them are so naturally by reason of the imbecilitie of their age or of their sexe The others are accidentally and by some outward cause whereof in part some reason may be yeelded and yet partly also the same is vnknowne and secret as being reserved in the cabinet of the secrets of God himselfe Of persons naturally fearefull Amongst those that are by nature fearefull I may in the first place put those that are given to be superstitious notwithstanding that at the first shew it may bee saide that superstition is rather an accidentall kinde of feare Of such as are given to bee superstitious But yet if we regard it more neerely and advisedly and doe consider that those weaker sorts of persons are easily given to be superstitious which the Philosophers also do hold and maintaine I doubt not but in the end it will be accorded that they are to be deemed superstitious by reason of the imbecillitie of their nature And therefore we see that women and old men are more addicted to superstition then any other because their naturall is more weake and their forces are lesse assured I will not say but that sometimes superstition commeth also by meanes of some externall cause of maladie and sicknesse or some other such like accident as that of Bion Boristenites Plinius Iunior li. 7. Epistolarum Epist 26. Tum demum inquit sumus optimi dum infirmi sumus beatumque in posterum innoxium destinamus vitam who comming to be sicke did so change his opinion even at an instant that of a meere Atheist and most prophane wicked person as he was he became so superstitious as hee would make many vowes farre vnworthy and vnbeseeming a Philosopher and tyed bills and scroles about his necke in hope to finde by them recoverie of his health Now as the wicked
quaeret D. de verb. sign facit l. inter caetera de liber post Quaeritur Hermaphrodit D. de statu hom Hostien in sum de corpore vitlatis § fin Baldus l. fin C. de suis legit lib. 1. Consslior cons 436. Rebuffus in l. oftentum D. de verb. signif and Angelus or whether they have not the vse of reason but be so monstrous as they have not so much as the face of a man but rather of some beast which is the doctrine of Felinus of whose opinion also is Benedictus And therfore to smal purpose are all those histories alleadged by the Appellants out of Titus Livius and others and out of the publique lawes of the Romans And as touching the Civill-Lawe so farre as concerneth the matter in question much lesse to the purpose is that which the Appellants affirme That in times past any infant monstrous borne and forgotten or omitted in the testament of the Parents could not therefore breake or disanâ—ll the testament For this is to be vnderstoode as Accursius saieth when such an infant had not any shape or forme of man and when it was destitute of the vse of reason and did the deedâ— and actions of a beast as if it bellowed like an oxe or fedde vppon grasse as a sheepe That our lawes doe admitte an identitie of reason and one selfe same and the like consideration betwixt such as are borne monstrous as thâ—se which are Hermaphrodites For like as the Hermaphrodites are reputed to be of that sâ—â— wherin they doe most excell according to the Civillians So the Defendant in this appeale ought to be accounted and held of that kinde wherein he excelleth and that is in the nature and kinde of man as being both borne of a man and having the reason of a man And that as the Hermaphrodites may be instituted heires to succeede to any Inheritaunce and are capable of Benefices without dispensation and may be promoted to holy Orders so the monstrous borne which is partaking of mankinde and hath the benefite and helpe of reason may very well be admitted to succeede to his parents dying intestate according to the generall custome of Fraunce which willeth that The dead shoulde give seizin to the living And therefore the Defendant concluded That the Iudgement had beene well and rightly yeelded And therevpon the Court by a solemne Arrest did confirme the same Iudgement and did pronounce the appeale to be brought without any iust cause of griefe and that therfore the sentence from which they had appealed should be fully and wholie executed But to returne to our Discourse touching women I say That very Feare dooth cause a thousand imaginations to come into their mindes the which being carried and conveyed thence even to their corporall eyes doe bring them into foolish and fond conceiptes that they have seene some spirites Besides there be some particular maladies proper to women which be barren and to maydens likewise when their termes doe come and descend and that the blood of their monthly disease being stopped from his course through the ordinary passages and by the matrix dooth redound and beate backe againe by the heart or by the pastes neere about the breast Then the same blood not finding any passage De Virginum nat troubleth the braine in such sorte that as Hippocrates saith it causeth many of them to have idle fancies and fond conceipts and tormenteth them with diverse imaginations of horrible specters and fearefull sights to their seeming with which being so afflicted some of them doe seeke to throwe and cast themselves into wells or pittes and others to destroy themselves by hanging or some such miserable end And it may be that the Milesian Virgins of whom Plutarch writeth were surprised with this maladie which constrained them to hang themselves Defoemin illustr and yet the citizens of Miletum could never discover not finde out what should be the occasion that shoulde make them to execute that cruelty vppon their owne persons But this shall suffice to be spoken touching the naturall feare of infants olde men and women Wee will now come to intreate of that feare which is accidentall and is much more piercing into the minds of men than that which is naturall and especially when God doth co-operate and work togither with the same and that no other reason can be yeelded for the same but such as God hath reserved to his owne secret and vnsearchable counsell Of feare caused in persons by accidental causes The first accidentall feare wee may terme and reckon to be that which dooth happen and befall vnto a whole campe even in the open and playne day light which vsually dooth take holde vppon the most stowt and hardie they not knowing Of feares surprising a whol campe in the day time nor being able to yeeld any reason of their feare and yet may a man see them to scatter them selves here and there on all sides as if they were sheepe dispersed without a sheepheard If any man should alleadge that it were cowardice or lacke of courage that should make even the most hardy and valiant thus to flie and runne away I cannot conceive that there is any apparance of trueth in that opinion It must needes bee then that the cause thereof is in the power and pleasure of God who is the onely prince and lorde that hath the soveraigne command of all armies and who long since did threaten even his owne people the children of Israel that if they would not observe his commandements nor walke in the wayes of their Forefathers that hee would send them such and so great feares and terrours as they should without any cause flie before the face of their enemies Now this feare as wee have erst saide is called Panicus Terror a Panique Feare or Of the Panique feare wrought in men by a divine and supernaturall power In Maedea Lib. 1. Stratag the Terrours and Furies of Pan as Euripides calleth them because the invention thereof proceeded from Pan who in the warre of Bacchus against the Indians being one of the Chieftaines and principall Captaines of the saide Bacchus as Polienus writeth vsed a thousand stratagems and politique inventions that were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by this meanes got Bacchus the vpper hand of his enemies they being surprized with an exceeding great feare and astonishment Of feare conceived vpon the defeate overthrow of a Campe. But the case were otherwise if such a feare be taken either vpon the desrout or defait of a campe or by reason of the darknes of the night for then the reason thereof is evident and apparant And certainely in the disorder or desrout of a whole campe where the enemie hath them in chase vppon the spurre and neere at hand it is commonly seene that the feare and terrour of men is so great that many times those which are of the same partie with them and their friends are mistaken
privation of depravation of any thing Besides that the peccant and faultie humours should worke more in humane bodres then those can do which are naturall and do entertaine the harmony of the body I cannot conceive how it may be done but wee must seeke out some other reason thereof then that which is yeelded by Pomponatius or Avenrois or any other naturall Philosophers whose reasons I hold it convenient in this place to set downe and to see what they aleadge to make vs beleeve that there is no other cause but Nature onely which doth worke in and vpon our bodies our senses and our humours whatsoever is seene to happen vnto them supernaturally The argument of Avicen and other Philosophers touching the power of nature producing supernaturall effectes Lib. 4. natur cap. vltimo Lib. 5. Phisicâ— cap. 9. Lib. 3 de Trins First they affirme touching the bewitching and enchanting of the eyes that oftentimes the soule of many persons doth worke vpon the body of another as vpon their owne proper person And therefore they inferre that the soule by her owne naturall vertue and power is able at it owne will and pleasure to alter and change the senses of persons and to bewitch their eyes And of this opinion are Avicen and Algazel But long time before them Saint Augustine was of a contrarie opinion For he saw little or no reason how it could be that men should have any such power or puissance one vpon another vnlesse it were onely by the operation of the divell And although it may be obiected that the eye of a sicke bodie may naturally wound and offend the sound eyes of another that shall regard and looke vpon the sicke partie yet so it is that a naturall reason may be yeelded for that as being caused either by meanes of the ayre infected and directed from the eye of the patient towardes the eyes of the sound person or else by reason of some secret Sympathie which some men have with others And sometimes also by a kinde of Antypathie a man may receive a kinde of naturall Fascination or Enchantment by the eyes as little children in looking vpon a Toade and that little bird which the French name Rubieâ—â—â— and the Greekes call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the which Elian and Snydâ—s do write Lib. 17. cap. 13. In verbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how it hath this propertie that it healeth the malady or disease called the Purples by looking vpon the patient from whom it taketh by the eyes the infection and venome thereof And for this cause in times past they did vse in selling this bird to carry him close covered with a linnen cloth for feare lest the partie so diseased should have served his turne by it Of divers kindes of charmes and enchantments which being supernatural the naturall Philosophers attributed to nature in looking on the same before he had bought it I know that Plinie recounteth how amongst the Bulgarians and in Ilbrium there are certaine whole families of Witches which they of Avergne do call Fascignaires or rather Sorcerers which with their very looke doe kill those whom they looke on with a crosse or felonous eye or aspect This maketh me to remember that which Aulus Gelliuâ— spenketh of in his Treatise entituled Noctas Atticae how there be some families in Africa Lib. 9. ca 4. who on the contrary doe vse to bewitch and for speake foldoes with their tongue and voyce and in giving out praises and speeches of commendation do worke the death and destruction both of trees of bruite creatures and of children Now the Philosophers doe thinke to yeelde a naturall reason heereof saying That those praises and commend at ory speeches doe engender in the heart a kinde of ioy and gladnesse and in the vaporous spirits which the naturall heaâ—e doth open cause to rebound as it were pel mell or confusedly by the face and eyes through which the venome and poyson of the enchauntment doth strike into the eies of others And this is the cause why Aristâ—tle writeth Sect 20. proble 24. That there was a custome that when one would praise any bodie they would vse to say and wish that Much good might do him the praisas which were given him But whatsoever the Philosophers doe alleadge touching this enchaunting or witch craft wrought with the speeche yet the trueth is Answer to the former argument that no man hath any such power to kill another except it proceede of the Divell by the permission of God much losse hath 〈◊〉 the power to cast or send foorth by his eies into the eies of another man any infection that should be able to change and alter the habite or state of the body so readily as is vsed to be doone by diabolicali enchantments with the which such as come to bee striken and attainted are commonly surprized in amoment And the very Antients themselves in my opinion seemed not to be ignorant that such kinde of enchantments That all enchantments wrought by speeches or lookes doe happen only extraordinarily and beyond the course of nature In Epodis Minusive lanquet Fascinum Of diverse superstirious devises vsed by the Antients against vvitcherafts and enchantments done either by the voyce or by the eyes did never happen but extraordinarily and beyond the course of nature And that was the cause that in such cases they ayded themselves with their superstitions to drive and chase them farre away from them that they might not be stricken nor attached by them Some of them vsed to carry tied about their neekes a certaine kinde of image or figure made in forme of a mans member thinking that by vertue of the same no Sorcerers shoulde be able to hurte them And such figure a they called Fascinum like as Horacâ— also nameth it because it hindered Fascinations or Enchaumments Others againe vsed to weare vppon their sore-heads in forme of a Garland the flower called Our Ladies Gloves and in Latine named Bacchar even for the same occasion and for feare lest some ill tongue shoulde charme or câ—chanut them which Virgil affirmeth in theseverses Bacchare frontem Cingite nevati noceat â—â—ala lingua future Which may be thus englished About his browes let be a wreathe of Bacchar knit That by an evill talking tongue our Poet be not bit And others there were that did vse to spit in their owne besomes or breasts as Theocritus testifieth saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The signification whereof in english is thus 〈…〉 might 〈…〉 that 〈◊〉 â—as Vpon my breast I follow spetting thrise The same also is to be seene amongest the Greeke Epigrammes Libus 4. Epigr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And likewise in Tibâ—lus in this verse Despart in â—â—olles sibi quisque sinns Vpon hsi owne most tender breast Each man to spie doth hold it best But Theophrastus speaking of superstitious persons dooth witnesse the same yet much more saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that
more strange or miraculous then the experience which we have of the Adamant which draweth the Iron vnto it Heere you see the very proper words of Pomponatius Answer to the reason of Pomponatius who deceiveth himselfe in saying that the enchantment which the eyes of the childe doe receive is derived from him that is the enchanter For then it should follow that the Enchanter ought first of all to have a sight of the thing represented and then afterwards should communicate the same to the childe For otherwise how is it possible hee should give that force vnto the boy which he himselfe hath not at all And as touching the comparison betweene the Adamant and the Iron that cannot any way serve to make for Pomponatius for betweene the Adamant and the Iron there is a kinde of Sympathy And what Sympathy I pray you can there be conceived betweene the soule of the childe and that of the enchanter the one being vnpolluted and the other polluted It were more fit therefore and convenient to affirme rather that this is a very worke of the divell of the which the enchanter serveth himselfe to know by the sight of the childe vnpolluted that which is secret and hidden from him And in my opinion Fernelius the Phisitian seemeth to have beene much more religious herein then Pomponatius For he freely confesseth that this is but a meere imposture and diabolicall deceit which commeth not of the effects of nature but by force of the charmes And you shall see his very owne wordes which he vseth in Latine being very elegant and in good termes Fernelius lib. 1. cap. 11. de Abditis rerum cau sis Vidi quendam vi verborum spectra varia in speculum derivare quae illic quaecunque imperaret mox aut scripto aut veris imaginibus ita dilucidè exprimerent vt promptè facile ab assidentibus omnia internoscerentur Audiebantur quidem verba sacra sed obscoenis nominibus spurcè contaminata cuiusmodi sunt Elementorum potestates horrenda quaedam inaudita principum nomina qui Orientis Occidentis Austri AquilonÃsque regionibus imperant That is to say I have seene a man who by the force of charmes and certaine words hath made divers specters and images to come within a mirrour or looking-glasse the which have there expressed either by writing or by some other demonstrations and true figures whatsoever he would command them and they have done it so cleerely and manifestly as it was most easie for the assistants and by-standers to know and discerne them There you shoulde heare certaine sacred and holy words pronounced but altogether polluted with most filthie and vile barbarous names as of certaine powers of the Elements and with certain horrible and vnknowne names of the Princes and chiefe of divels having a command over the Orient the Occident the South and North Regions of the world So that Fernelius attributeth these kind of enchantments and fascinations or the binding and bewitching of the eyes of children or boyes not vnto the faculties and powers of nature pure and vnpolluted but onely to the working of the divell which doth worke and shew forth his effects being called vp by the charmes and enchantments of the Magitian with whom he hath a certaine strict confederation neere aliance And this ought to be received and admitted before all the reasons of Pomponatius and others of that sect who take vpon them in matters meerely Metaphisicall and supernaturall to dispute as if they were simply Phisicall and Naturail I know well that Avicen bâ—sides all this The opinion of Avicen attributing enchantments to the vehemensy of the imagination Lib. 8. de Animalie 7. in Fine affirmeth that the cause of enchantments charmes commeth of the vehement imagination of the soule And he yeeldeth an example thereof in the Henne which having beaten the Cocke in fight will stretch herselfe vp vpon her feet and beate with her wings and set vp her traine as if shee were a Cocke indeede and sometimes may bee seene a little horne growing out of her legge such as hath the Cocke And heereof saith hee it may be knowne and comprehended the obeisance which nature beareth and yeeldeth to the imaginative conceits and cogitations of the soule And by this would Avicen inferre that the cogitations sometimes are such as they have power to alter and change both the sensitive Organs and the internall or interiour part in such sort that a man should find himselfe as it were altogether transformed in himselfe Which serveth well to confirme the opinion of Avenrâ—is who said that the imagination of them which are bitten by a mad dogge is so great and violent that even in their vrine as we have erst said a man shall see as it were the figures of little dogges But this which Avicen affirmeth cannot stand in regard of the transmutation of the common sense The opinion of Avicen refuted or of the phantafie and apprehension And it doth extend too farre also the imaginative powers of the soule the which howsoever they doe worke in vs marvelous and strange things yet neverthelesse the same is onely by anaturall apprehension and commotion which mooveth and stirreth vp in vs and in our body a certaine heate and colde as we see in them that are growne into a suddaine choler or into a feare And it doth sometimes so change our health that it is the cause either of death or of some extrâ—ame greâ—fe or sicknesse And to little purpose is that comparison of the Henne or of the partie bitten with a mad dogge set downe by Avenrois and Avicen forasmuch as the same is beyond all experience and it is very hard to be beleeved especially that same touching the partie so bitten by a mad dogge For as touching that of the henne it is no new nor strange matter if having beaten the Cocke she doe imagine herselfe to bee a Cocke seeing that the Cocke himselfe which maketh the Hen as the saying is will sometimes endure other Cockes to mount vppon him and to tread him as if hee were a Henne Neither is this any thing abhorring from nature nor is it any other thing but such as daily happeneth and that even by the vertue imaginative of naturall creatures But that the imagination can engender in vs such marvellous effects as the bewitching and blinding of the eyes and the enchantment of the senses vseth to produce and bring forth that is an heresie in nature which ought to be hissâ—d at and vtterly reâ—ected if there be no better reasons to be yeelded for it Obiection of Pomponatius touching specters the sights appearing to Dion and the noise heard by Antonie and that such are no naturall impressions in the soule Apud plutarchum in vita Antonii Dionis To make short no lesse false and vntrue also is that which the same Pomponatius speaketh inferring that that which Dion is reported to have seene and that which
not be credible that men may in very deede be chaunged into woolves First I deny that the Scripture doth precisely affirme that Nabuchodoneser was changed into a beast but that he did eate hay as a beast and that the nailes of his fingers and his feete did grow as the clawes of an Eagle The which is a thing worthie to be marked and doth evidently shew vnto all such vndiscreete persons as would have men to be transformed into woolves how much their mindes and vnderstanding are subiect to vnconstancie and indiscretion that they cannot make any profite but do wrest to their ownesense that which being well examined doth make altogether against them For in that the Scripture saith the nailes of Nabuchodonozer did grow in such a manner and that hee did eate hay as an Oxe it giveth vs to vnderstand that his forme or shape was not changed but that hee had so lost the vse of reason and his vnderstanding that hee thought and imagined himselfe to bee a beast and hee didde therefore eate hay as a beast not that hee was really and indeede a beast For seeing his essentiall forme was not changed as themselves do confesse and the corporall and reasonable parts of man are two essences so lincked and conioyned together that before the day of death they can never be seperated how can it be that the reasonable part being not possible to bee changed because it is essentiall to man as themselves alleadge yet the body which is vnited and tyed vnto the reason and vnderstanding should and may notwithstanding bee changed and transformed Certainely the bodie of man and the soule are Relatives and a man cannot presuppose a humane body to be living and walking but hee must give vnto it a reasonable soule and so likewise on the contrarie part wee cannot take any consideration heere below of a living soule vsing reason but we must give it a body proportioned with all the draughts features and lineaments of a man This being a thing so true and certaine as to make a doubt thereof would be a manifest errour and against the principles of naturall Philosophie How can it then bee that the soule being not to be changed by their owne confession our bodies neverthelesse should bee changed and take the body of a beast But they inferre yet further say men have the power to make a cherry-tree or such like plant Obiection by sundry examples to beare and bring foorth roses or apples and they can change yron into steele and the forme of silver into gold wherefore then should it be thought so strange a matter that the divell should change the figure of a body into some other shape seeing his power doth by farre exceede that of men Solution and answer to the first example Goodly comparisons no doubt as though the man which doth graft in a tree a rose or any other graft be he that doth cause to grow within or vpon the tree or the wilde stocke that which is so strange and different from the proper substance of the tree and not rather nature it selfe which by meanes of the sappe of the tree mounting to the graft doth make it to be incorporated and vnited to the barke and body of the same tree and as Virgil saith Vdo facit in elescere libro Certaine it is that he which doth graft it doth nothing else but lend his hands to Nature the which as touching the rest according to the power that God hath given it doth worke and bring it forth causing it to come to these effects as we see The which howsoever they may seeme marvelous yet are they notwithstanding meerely naturall and easie to bee comprehended as proceeding from that which doth delight in the diversitie of her worke and as Petronius Arbiter saith Non vno contenta valet natura tenore Sed commutatas gaudet habere vices Great is the force of nature her course oft changing Never contented with one kinde of working Now God hath not given such power vnto the divell so to transforme any body into another and to alter and change the substance thereof in any sort neither is there any likenesse or identity of reason betweene the grafting of a tree and the transmutation of an entire and solide substance into another body And more then that howsoevering grafting of any thing a man do cut away even halfe the stocke to incorporate the graft yet doth the stocke still remaine the same and the graft taketh it noriture of the sappe of the stocke and doth retaine the nature thereof and that this is so it is apparant for that in the grafting of roses vpon an hawthorne or other wilding or an oke they will grow to be greene by reason of the sappe of the wilding or of the oke And therefore the nature of the tree is not so changed by the new grafting of it but that a man may easily take knowledge of the first substance thereof the which is farre otherwise in the substance of any man that is said to be changed and transformed by the divell for that therein cannot be discerned the tract or shew of any humane shape So that then the divell must bee acknowledged to bee of more might and puissance then Nature it selfe the which the Hebrewes did esteeme in a maner as a god Answer to the 2. example Now as touching that they alleadge that man doth change yron into steele and silver into gold they do not see how therein they doe most grosely and absurdly speake against themselves For I will vse no other then their owne comparison to refell all those that shall maintaine the transmutation of any true substance For as it is most certaine that yron doth easily refine it selfe into that which in nature is next and neerest vnto it that is steele neverthelesse it is alwaies yron and is easie to be discerned from that steele which is fine and naturall And as silver being molten and dissolved with matters of another nature may easily take the colour of gold and come to counterfait and adulterate the same and yet is not able to change it but that it will be discovered for such as it is being tried either with the graver the touchstone the hammer or some such meanes In like manner the divell howsoever by charming the eyes and sight of the beholders hee doe seeme in some sort to adulterate and falsifie the substance of man in making it appeare other then it is indeede yet neverthelesse doth not the humane substance suffer any change or alteration So that we may briefely resolve and conclude this point with Saint Thomas of Aquine that the divell deceiving and deluding both the inward and outward senses In 2. sententia distinct 8 and consequently the iudgement of men doth represent vnto them things divers and farre different from their naturall substances neither is the same a thing more new or strange vnto him then it is vnto some men who
mooving of the soule being quicke and sodaine we may not marvell nor thinke it strange if as by the beating and striking together of the flint and the steele there are forced out sparkle of fire so also by the agitation of the spirits the arising and boiling of the humours and the mooving of the soule of man he may by the organs fit and proper therevnto vtter foorth speeches never heard before and some strange language til then vnknown Now the facultie of the soule is very apte and readily disposed to perceive and apprehend the knowledge of things and to be embewed with their principles even before such time as it commeth to vse them in such sort as the opinion of Plato seemeth to have some likelihoode of truth that our knowledge and vnderstanding is no other thing than a kinde of remembring For even so the soule which is the principall and most divine parte of man at such time as it is stirred and mooved against the naturall motion thereof and beginneth to bee troubled with corporall maladies it dooth then also happen to vtter and putte foorth that which lay before hidden and concealed in the most profound and inward partes thereof a to witte such faculties and forces as bee even divine and celestiall And like as there be some trees and plants which doe not cast foorth from themselves any good seent or odour but onely when they are rubbed and chafed with the hand even so the faculties and powers of the soule doâ—never so shew themselves as when they come to be stirred and mooved And by the same reason the jeate and the amber will not be made to drawe vppe to them the strawe or the rush till such time as they be first rubbed and a long time chafed betweene the handes And whereof commâ—th iâ— saith â—â—â—inus further that they which be neere to the point of death do commonly prophecie the which Homer also witnesseth in divers bookes of his Iâ—iads except it be because an vnaccustomd force Aâ—iad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exciting and stirring vp it selfe within them before death doth as it were ravish them in a kind of divine inspiration in such sort as they be besides themselves and doe suffer themselves to be carried away with the power of the spirit or soule which is then set on discoursing vttering by their mouthes such things as are afterwards to ensue and come to passe But let Levinus say what he list as a Phisitian he cannot for all that perswade me Levinus Lâ—mnius opinion confuted that men do naturally speake divers languages vnlesse it be either by miracle and by the power of the holy spirit of God as did the Apostles or else by the aide and helpe of the divell as did they whome the antient Christians of the Primitive Church called Energomenous and whom we call Demoniaques or persons possest Yea but saith he the agitation of the humours by sicknesse and the mooving of the soule both which doe cooperate and worke together may worke wonders and make them to speake divers languages To this I answer that it is not either the humours or the soule which do cause a man in his sicknesse or fever to speake divers languages but it is the divell who doth as wee have said mingle himselfe in the humours being corrupted And so is the resolution vpon this point of Saint Thomas Aquinas who speaking of lunaticall persons vexed by the divell according to the encrease and decrease of the Moone saith that the divells doe considder howe the humours of the bodie are disposed to their effectes and accordingly they doe follow the course of the Moone which hath a certaine commanding power over the braine and the humours in such sort as man shall see more lunatike persons tormented by the divell then of anie other sorts whatsoever The words of that Doctour are these The reasons why the divells do the more exercise their rage according to the encrease of the Moone is for two respects First because that thereby they may make the creature of God to wit the Moone the more infamous as saith both Saint Ierome and Saint Iohn Chrysostome In cap. 4. super Mathe. Homil. 54 in Mathe. Secondly for that they doe vsually worke according to the naturall vertues and faculties and in their workings and effects doe consider the aptnesse and disposition of the body Now it is manifest that the braine of al other parts of the body Lib. de somno vigilia is the most moist as Aristotle affirmeth and for that cause it is principally subiect vnder the domination and power of the Moone the which by her particular propertie hath the power to moove the humours and they troubling the braine doe give occasion to the divell to mixe and convey himselfe into and amongst them and so to trouble the phantasie of the partie Thus you see the very words vsed by this Doctour Questione 115. Tim. 1. sacrae Theologiae Art 5. which may serve also against Hippocrates who derided some in his time that thought the Falling-evill to be caused onely by the wrath and anger of the gods and not of any disturbance or depravation of the braine And for that cause Lib. de sacro morbâ— Hypocrates his opinion touching the Falling-evill as hee saith they vsed then expiations and charmes to chase and drive away this sacred evill or disease the which hee denied to bee a thing that ought in any sort to bee beleeved that the gods did in any sort cause it because the body of man could not be any waies polluted or defiled by the gods they being pure and chaste And by the vsing of expiations and purgations it must be inferred that they touching our bodies do pollute and defile them the which to beleeve of the divine powers could not but be blasphemous and wicked Hypocrates his opinion confuted But this Phisitian did not consider that there were many sorts of gods amongst the Pâ—yniâ—s that those which they held to be terrestrial infernal they called numina lava that is Hurtful gods or evil spirits such as vsed to possesse the bodies and to hurt them And for this cause did they vse to make their supplications vnto them for feare lest they should doe them some harme And if they did finde themselves to have any evill and vnquiet nights and ill dreames by them then did they vse to purge and cleanse themselves as we shall heereafter shew in another place fit for that purpose This sheweth plainly that Hippocrates knew not well what to thinke whether the gods did inwardly possesse and seize vpon the body of the partie troubled with the Epilepsie or surprized with the Falling-evill seeing he alleadgeth no other reason then this I know not how taken from his Paganisme which we have shewed to be very vaine of no moment even by the opinion of those of his owne religion I doe not in any sort reproove those good
reasons which he afterwardes yeeldeth in shewing That the divell doth serve himselfe of the humours or braine in men corrupted so seizing on the same doth enter into the bodies of such distempered persons in the tiem of their fittes that from the braine troubled and offended doth proceede this disease of the Epilepsie or the Falling-evill But I say according to the resolution of Saint Thomas Aquine that the divell may possesse the humours being corrupted or the braine being so troubled and offended of the paâ—tie so diseased and that this is a thing that doth happen vsually and commonly And I wot wel that the antient Magitians to call vp their divells or spirits and to know of them such things as were to come did helpe themselves with the bodies of Epileptiques and persons troubled with that disease Into the which the divells did easily enter at such time as the evill or fit tooke them and did speake by their mouthes vnto the Magitians or by some other externall signes did declare vnto them what was to come And I remember that I have read in Apuleius that he was accused before the Proconsull of Affricke Apologia 1. Apuleius servum suum Thallum remâ—tis arbitris secreto loco arula lucerna paucis consciis carminâ— cantatum corruere fecit deinde nescium sui excitâ—vit Obiection touching strange languages and prophecies c. vttered by persons distempered that it should be by nature corrupted how that he aided himselfe with his servant Thallus being surprized with the Falling-sicknesse at such time as he performed his magicke sacrifices And hee defended or excused himselfe of this crime so coldely that he seemeth to consent therevnto And it is well knowne that next to Apollonius Thianeus he was one of the greatest Magitians that can be remembred But saith yet Levinus those medecines that doe purge Melancholie Madnesse Burning-fevers the Epilepsie and such like do cause all those thinges to cease which we affirm to be caused in such bodies by the divels namely to speake strange languages to prophecie and fore-tell things to come to tell wonders of things past and to doe that which is not possible for man to doe by nature Therefore it may be concluded that it is not the divell but rather Nature corrupted which so moves the humors and stirres vp troubles the soule in that maner But I doe vtterly deny that the divells by medecines can be driven or cast out of such bodies neither can hee proove it vnto me by any example I am not ignorant that Pomponatius writeth Answer to the former Obiection that the divel cannot be cast out of bodies possest by medecines De precantat But it appears not that those purges did ex pell the divell In oratio de laudibus medecinae that the antient Exorcists or Coniurers did purge with helleborus the bodies of such as were beset with divells before they made their coniurations howbeit he cannot alleadge or bring me any good and sound historie to proove his saying And though he affirme that the wife of Frauncis Maigret Savetier of Mantua who spake divers languages was healed by Calceran a famous Phisitian of his time who did minister vnto her a potion of helleborus And that Erasmus agreeing with him doth write how hee himselfe saw a man of Spoleta in Italie that spake the Almaine tong very well albeit hee had never beene in Almaine and that after a medecine had beene given vnto him hee did avoid by the fundament a great number of wormes and so was healed and did never after speake the Almaine tongue any more yet doe I hold the truth of this very suspitious It might bee rather that the divels left these presently vpon the medecines given them onely because he would have men beleeve and wickedly attribute this power to bee in phisicke rather then to any worke of God though it were not indeed by any vertue of the phisicke Lib. 2. cap. 16. de abdit rer causis and do rather give credite to Fernelius one of the greatest Phisitians of our age who doth vtterly denie that there is any such power in phisicke And he reciteth a historie of a young Gentleman the sonne of a Knight of the Order who being possessed by the divell could not in any sorte be healed by any potions medicines or diet ministred vnto him Nor by that neither You may assoone beleeve the one as the other for all phisicke all superstitions and Coniurations are of like efficacie in this case Opinion of the Astrologers confuted That the speaking of strange languages c. by persons distempered in their bodies proceedeth of the influence of the Starres but onely by Coniurations and Exorcismes And even in our time there was better triall made heereof in that woman or Demoniaqne of Vervin who for all the medicaments that were given vnto her by those of the pretended reformed religion could never be healed but onely by the vertue and efficacie of the holy Sacrament of the Altare But to come to other matters of this kinde As little reason also have the Astrologers to attribute vnto their Starres such force and influence as to say That they doe infuse and instill into humane bodies certaine admirable faculties and so doe cause them to speake divers and straunge languages for their opinion is as farre from the trueth and to be abhorred as that of the Phisitians neither can they finde any reasons whereby they are able or ought to perswade that the Starres are the cause of any such myracle chauncing in the bodies of men And howsoever for proofe of their Assertion they doe vrge That the Moone according to the encreasing and decreasing thereof dooth produce very terrible effectes in the bodies of Lunatique persons and that according to certaine constellations of the Starres the corporall matter is disposed more or lesse to receive the celestiall Impressions yet dooth it not followe for all that That the Lunatiques in speaking and vttering diverse languages are not surprised and possessed by the Divell but that the same their diversity of tongues should proceed from the Starres For what should I say more But that the auntient Paynims themselves were not ignorant but did acknowledge that both Melancholique persons Mad-men and Lunatiques speaking diverse and sundry languages and prophecyings were men possessed with Divelles And therefore they did vse to call them Fanaticos and sometimes Ceritos Ceritus quasi Cereristus gracis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plâ—utuâ— in Poe nulo neque nos populus pro Ceritis insectabit lapidibus De sacro morbo 1. Reg. as if they shoulde say Persons stricken by Ceres sometimes Demetrioleptous and Numpholeptons and Daimonountas as Lucian witnesseth and sometimes persons possessed by Hecate which was an infernall divell or by Heros as saieth Hippocrates And in the Bible in the bookes of Kings wee see that Saul being in a melancholique passion was assailed and vexed with an evill spirite and
gathered at such time as certaine starres do raigne should in some point participate of the power and vertue of those same starres and that they should sometimes have such a power over and vpon the hearts of men as to make them to hate and to love or to cause them to be hated or loved and to bring them into favour and credite with Lords and great personages or to cause their disgrace and disfavour with them For this is but an idle invention of the Astrologers sufficiently heeretofore refuted by Picus Mirandola and condemned also by the daily experience which we have thereof to the contrarie And if there have beene happily some few which have made proofe according to their desire of that which the Astrologers have profest and vndertaken yet this maketh not that therefore their Art should bee any thing the more esteemed or set by no more then dreames are esteemed or held in any reckoning albeit many have found the effects of them as they have dreamed Nay more then so I dare say thus much that if such hearbes gathered vnder the influence of the starres doe happen to worke and to fall out in proofe according to the will of the partie that gathereth them it is the divell that doth so cooperate and worke with it rather then any power or vertue of the starres because thereby he intendeth to bring men into an errour and to thinke that there is a certaine kind of divinitie or divine power in the starres Questio 115. Tomo 1. summae sacrae Theolâ—g and according as Thomas of Aquine affirmeth to imprint in their mindes a certaine terrour and feare of the puissance and power of the starres Cap. 20. the which is a thing whereof the Prophet Ieremiâ— willed the Iewes to take heede of Vmeothoth hashamains al-theh-hathu ci ichhathu hag oim mehemma that is to say Feare ye not the signes of heaven for of them do the Gentiles stand in feare And therefore they who have vsed to attribute such power vnto hearbes cut or gathered vnder the influence of the starres are vtterly to be reiected as the Philosophers Thebanus Alexander Trallian Albertus surnamed Magnus Eudemus Necepsus Andreas and Pamphilus Phisitians of whom we have before spoken and those persons also which were called Herescopes whom likewise the Divines do vtterly reproove and condemne in this behalfe But before wee will shut vp this Discourse of witchcraft and enchantments The historie of a young maÌ„ that soght to winne the love of a maid by charmes and was therfore sued and condemned by the law and that which may bee saide touching the same I hold it not amisse and it will be very little from the matter which we have in hand to set downe heere in this place the report of a certaine accident that came to bee in controversie and was debated and decided in the court of Parliament of Paris The question was touching a processe made extraordinarily against a young man in a cause wherein he was charged that by certaine scroles or papers and such like charmes he attempted the honour and chastitie of one whom he loved whether the same processe ought to be admitted and received The cause was pleaded as a verball appellation in the Court Criminall This cause was pleaded and the arest or iudgement affirmed by Monsieure Pilcar the 16 of Aprill 1580. by two famous advocates of the palace and it seemeth that it was vpon an appeale first brought from the Iudge of Lavall The summe of the processe was thus A certaine young man being exceedingly enamored on a young gentlewoman descended of a great house and desiring to purchâ—se her in mariage yet seeing his owne meanes and abilitie to bee so small as he found little hope to get the consent of her parents therevnto and by that meane to attaine to the top of his desires Besides perceiving that she was sollicited by divers persons of great calling and good reputation he bethought himselfe of a shorter course as hee imagined and that was to gaine the love of the maiden by any meanes whatsoever To this effect he continually haunted and frequented the house where she was and courting her with all kindes of submissive and humble entreaties and with proffers of all his best services which he supposed might bee most agreeable and to her contentment he endevoured to gain her love and to winne her affections In the end seeing himselfe scorned and in a manner cleane out of hope of that which he most desired hee determined to make triall of an extreame remedie And therevpon going to a certaine Priest who was a notorious Sorcerer and did vse to give out little scroles or billets to procure love hee tooke of him one of those papers and finding his mistrisse in a place fitte for the purpose he conveyed the paper into her bosome whilst himselfe made semblance that he was but playing and â—easting with her But it happened farre otherwise then hee imagined for thinking to gaine her love he cast such drugges or whether it were such charmes into her bosome that they brought the maiden neere to the point of death Her father and mother being marvelously sadde and sorrowfull for her sickenesse were certified in the end what was the cause thereof And therefore causing an information to be drawne and preferred against the young man they got a decree against him to have his bodie apprehended the which was executed accordingly And afterwardes the Iudge gave sentence that the lawe shoulde proceede peremptorily vppon the hearing of the witnesses personally brought against him From this sentence as also from the decree touching his apprehension was the appeale broght and the pleading thereof was offred to a present hearing The Appellant said that he had beene offered great and evident wrong in that the inferior Iudge had not onely decreed a Capias against his body but had also adiudged that the lawe shoulde proceede vpon the evidence of the witnesses personally brought against him That it was very true and hee did acknowledge that which was laide in the information and that hee did put into the bosome of the Complainants daughter a little scroll of paper written but that there was not therein either any drugges or poyson nor any other such thing as might woorke an alteration in the health of the mayden That if hee had conveyed anie poyson into it there was no doubt but he had beene worthy of capitall punishment according to the fifth chapter of the Lawe Cornelia Si quis venenum necandi hominis causa habuerit L. 3. D. ad l. Cornelia de Sicariis That the saide scroll of paper could not be any poyson for to empoison any bodie neither had it any such force or vertue but that it was onely a writing which he had cast into the bosome of the maide not thinking any evill or hurt to her And that therfore ther was no cause why any such extraordinary processe should be made