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
subtilit how hee knew an olde man which was so frighted and terrified with the conceit of a false vision that he could not be made beleeve but that he had seene aspecter and he died through the feare of that conceit Of women that they are naturally subiect to feares After children and old folkes next doe succeede women of all sorts whome Saint Peter in his Canonicall epistle termeth fraile and weake vessells well knowing the defect and imbecilitie of their courage and that the same is capable of all manner of feare and perturbation That was the cause as Harpocration writeth that the Greekes had a law Cap. 3. by the which for the considerations above expressed there were perpetuall tutors and overseers ordained and appointed to their women And in imagination of the same law was the Customarie law of France which decreeth that the wives should be in perpetuall tutelage of their husbands and that they may not be called into iudgement nor make contracts nor governe or dispose of their goods without leave and authoritie of their husbands And the law of the Romans in regard of their imbecillitie and naturall frailtie did make them vncapable to execute any places of charge either publicke or civill and excluded them from being Magistrates and Iudges and from all maner of plaints procurations intercessions for any other persons and from accusing and libelling against all such like actions as also from being arbitrers and vmpiers in any causes Lib. 2. D. de Regul Iuris L. cum praetor § penult D. de iualic l. 2. D. de re Iudicat l. neque D. de procu l. D. de crimine C. qui accusat In Apolog. ad DD. fratres In historia ecclesiasti And I have read in Iustin Martir and Eâ—sebius one thing that was worthy the observation amongst the Antient Romans and which is very well agreeing and consenting with our vsages manners and customes For though at this day the written lawes do conclude the woman to be vnder the power and commaund of her husband yet so it is that the Emperor Marke Antonyne did authorize privilege a certain maried woman that was a christian by his writing to have the governement and administration of her owne goods because her husband being a heathen Paynim did misuse and entreate her evill which sheweth very evidently that shee was vnder the power and governement of her husband till such time as the graunt and letters patents of the Prince did make frustrate his power and authoritie over her Wherefore seeing it is most certaine that women are naturally so fraile and weake it must needes be that feare is naturally attending vpon them and dooth ever accompanie them and it doth easily imprint sundry imaginations in their mindes like as a man would make in waxe an impression of some character with a Ring or Signet And it must needes be that their feare and apprehension is very great seeing their imagination doth engender so mervellous effects in nature as nothing more And letting passe whatsoever is written heereof in antient histories I will onely in this place recite a certaine accident which befell of late even in our time the same being a thing as marvellous as any one thing that you shall observe in any Authors whatsoever There was a certaine gentleman in a village neere the Towne of Argenton in Normandie Of a gentleman borne in Normandie which complotted with some of the inhabitants of that Village to play certaine plaies wherein should be acted certaine divells to the intent the pleasure and pastime of their Pageant might be the greater Of humane parts in forme of a monster And this Gentleman would needes himselfe bee apparrelled and attired in the habite of a divell and did play the part of a divell insomuch as after the plaies were ended hee resting in a heate and chafed in his furniture went home to his wife lay with her and had her companie clad in the same attire wherein he had played the divell By meanes wherof it hapned that his wife were it either by some vehement imagination that surprized her or else which I rather beleeve through a very feare which seized vppon her and is naturally in the hearts of all women she was delivered at the nine moneths end of a sonne so monstrous as in his countenance his head his face and all the other parts of his body especially in his feete hee resembled and was more like vnto a Satyre such as the Poets have described then vnto an ordinarie and naturall man After this shee had other children by her husband all which together with their brother the monster did survive both their father and their mother Vpon whose decease there grew a contention and variance betweene them touching the succession of his inheritance All of them endevouring to exclude this monster their elder brother not onely from the birth-right of being heire and eldest sonne but even from the totall succession of any thing that hee should claime or that might in right appertaine vnto him Heerevpon was the processe sued and the matter proceeded in suite betweene them before a ludge of an inferiour Court by whome it was ordered that they shoulde make their entry vppon the inheritance and that the eldest brother shoulde inherite as next heire vnto his father and mother according to the custome of Normandie From this sentence the younger brethren brought their appeale Of a processe or sute in an appeal broght against the said monster by his brethren vpon claime of inheritance and remooved it into the Court of Parliament of Roan where the cause was pleaded And the yonger brethren being Appellants did aleadge That they had great and iust cause to complaine vpon the wrong done them not onely in that their brother was admitted to the birth-right of being heire and eldest sonne to their father but also that hee should bee adiudged to have any parte in the succession of that living which neither did nor could in any sort fall or appertayne vnto him by any Lawes either divine or humane For besides that hee was a very monster borne and even against the ordinary course of nature And therefore was to be excluded for that onely cause from all naturall rights and priviledges as well of any legitimate and lawfull portion as of the birth-right and priviledge of the first borne There was not also any reason whie hee should be either termed or accompted for a man seeing hee was formed and created farre vnlike other men and did more resemble a Savage and a Satyre than a reasonable man That by the publique lawes of the Romans which concerned their religion and ceremonies the monster ought to be putte to death as soone as it was borne and then was to be throwen into the sea or into the next river or else was to be burned with fire made of those woods which are accounted vnfortunate as namely thornes hawthornes bryars and such
A TREATISE OF SPECTERS OR straunge Sights Visions and Apparitions appearing sensibly vnto men Wherein is delivered the Nature of Spirites Angels and Divels their power and properties as also of Witches Sorcerers Enchanters and such like With a Table of the Contents of the severall Chapters annexed in the end of the Booke Newly done out of French into English AT LONDON Printed by Val. S. for Mathew Lownes 1605. TO The Kings most excellent Maieslie of great Brytaine France and Ireland c. Most gratious and dread Soveraigne AS it is a duty imposed vpon parents by Nature to provide for the education and maintenance of their infants so it is a priviledge allowed vnto the studious both by reason and custome to secure the fruits of their studies from the detractions of the envious by the countenaunce and patronage of some great personages either excellent for their vertues or eminent for their greatnesse Vpon this ground as also vpon some other speciall inducements I have presumed to present vnto your Highnes this Treatise touching the Apparition of Spirits and discoursing of the Nature properties and power both of Angels Divels Sorcerers Witches and such like One of the speciall reason inducing me herevnto is for that as the first Authour thereof a Frenchman and a Civill Lawyer did dedicate it to the Queene mother of Fraunce Katherine de Medicis a great Princesse to whom it seemeth in regard of his particular preferment he was specially obliged so my selfe his like in profession though wanting the meanes of like hope and fortune had a desire that this French stranger now made an English Denison might soiourne here vnder the royall protection of your Greatnesse whose excellency of puissance surpassing knowledge and princely vertues exempted from comparison have made you observed of the greatest admired of the wisest and endeered in the love and hearts of all good men A second Motive was the desire of the partie by whose Motion I vndertooke to bring him acquainted with the English who being a man worthily regarded of the best and not vnknown to your Maiestic did wish to have him presented to your Highnesse The third and last though not the least cause which drew both our desires to concurre in this point was that I may vse his owne wordes written to a great Peere of this Realme touching this Treatise Because your Maiestie hath heretofore most religiously and learnedly written of this Argument and hath concluded That Witches are the generation of Vipers and the seede of the wicked Serpent whose head you have also bruised both by divine lawe and by Act of Parliament Wherefore seeing this straunger is not onely a professed foe to all these damned artes and diabolicall illusions of Witches Sorcerers and Coniurers and to all their fauourers and adherents but like a stoute and most worthie Champion hath also overthrowne all their forces and troden their defences vnder foote All these reasons put togither do yeeld me a full assurance that as your Highnesse is best able so you will most graciously bee pleased to patronize and protect him and the rather because he is a straunger This fauour if your most excellent Maiestie shall vouchsafe him for mine owne part as my heart was long since vowed yours in all dutie love and fidelitie so my soule shall power it selfe foorth in prayers for the blessed preservation of your Maiestie in all happines both of temporall and eternall felicitie Your Maiesties Most faithfull subiect in all humilitie The Epistle of the French Authour to the Queene Mother of the King MAdame albeit the first subiect moouing me to write this Treatise of Specters was principally to confute certaine auncient Philosophers Atheists and Libertines who did hold and maintaine this opinion that there were not any substances in being but such only as were corporall and having bodies Yet so it is that I have not herein imployed my pen agaynst those whom both all the Bookes of the whole worlde and venerable antiquitie and even Nature it selfe have condemned so much as I have done agaynst certaine perverse spirits and brainsicke persons of our age who have invented most strange and variable opinions as also agaynst some new Dogmatists who to the intent they might secretly insinuate as I * This is but a suppose For it is no consequence because the soules of dead men appeare not that therfore they are not suppose into the minds of men an error of the Epicures That the soules of men have no being after death have altogether denied their apparition Howbeit that all the Doctours of the Church doe confute them and Saint Ierome particularly hath written thereof a certaine Booke agaynst Vigilantius the Gaule wherein he sheweth by lively reasons that the soules of the Saints after their dissolution may haunt or frequent these inferiour places Now Madame I knowing that you have in detestation all such Dogmatists and that your desire is above all things that our France should be purged of such monsters which as the same Saint Ierome writeth to Vigilantius could never endure or suffer such persons My desire was that this woorke of mine shoulde come foorth vnder the name of your Highnesse to the intent the same might march the more hardily vnder your fauour throughout France in despite of all detractions and malignant persons who will so much the more feare to assaile or reprove it when they shall see that it is vnder your protection and defence and that you have with a gratious countenance receyved it Madame I pray God the Creator to give you long life with encrease of greatnesse and prosperitie From Angiers this 21. of Iune 1586. Your most humble subiect PETER DE LOIRK To the learned Reader MY Maisters the worthinesse of this worke commended by some of good indgement and the friendly intertainment which you gave the Epirot Prince Scanderbeg when of French hee became English hath caused this stranger and a Frenchman to bee recommended vnto mee by my friend with a desire to have him brought acquainted with our English language and fashions To satisfie his request I have vndergone the paines and you are now if you please to reape the pleasure For having apparelled him as you may see in this English habit I do now send him vnto you trusting you will affoord him as friendly a welcome as you did to my French Epirot It may be hee will prove worthie of your liking and good acceptance For if I be not deceived in conversing with him you shall find both delight and profit delight by the varietie of sundry matters and variable Histories which he will discover recount vnto you profit in regard of his sound Arguments profound knowledge in all kinds of learning and philosophie accompanied with great reading and experience in the antiquities of the aucients both Iewes Arabians Greeks and other nations besides many things in him of worthy observation Amongst all which parts if in some points you find him not so sound a
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
for their enemies As that Gentleman of France who in the battell of S. Quintines flying from the furie of the Spaniards as fast as his horse could galloppe If a man should have demanded of him what he dreamed of when as his servant following him close at the heeles tolde him that his dagger being excellent faire and of good workmanship did fall from him and hee answered him I am all made of daggers Sure I am he would have said that hee knew not his servant at that instant but imagined that the Spaniards did follow him even at his backe And as touching a feare conceived by reason of the night Of feare conceived by night there is gâ—â—â—t apparance of reason why the same should happen at that time rather then in the day because the night is more apt and proper to receive all terrours and apprehensions then the day is And the imbecillitie of the sight which in the night time is very great doth make a man to imagine many things which he would not so much as thinke vpon in the day time But heereof wee have spoken sufficiently at large when wee were in discourse of the senses and of the opinion of the Sceptiques Let vs now therefore passe forwards and continue on our purpose touching those persons that become fearefull and timorous by accident and whereof no reason can readily be yeelded First we will speake of such as being guiltie of some notable and notorious crime Of the feares of notorious malefactours terrified by the guiltinesse of their owne consciences are scene to have such a biting and remorce of conscience within their breasts that they suppose all persons whome they see to approach and come neere them to bee Sergeants and officers comming to arrest them and to make them prisoners To this purpose Plutarch recordeth a marvellous strange and admirable historie of one named Bessus This vnhappie youth having most wretchedly and wickedly murthered his owne father In l. de sera numinis vindicta and the murther being long concealed without comming to the knowledge of any man on a time as he went to suppe with some company he threw downe with the point of an holberd a Swallowes nest and treading vpon the young ones hee crushed them with his feete The which being perceived by those that supped with him they did sharpely and vehemently reprove him for that vnmercifull and inhumane acte of cruelitie as it is vsuall with men to abhorre such as doe mischiefe to such little creatures vnto whom he made this answer Do you not see quoth he how these baggage little birds do continually yeeld false witnesse against me crying and chattering in their language that I have slaine my father The company marvelling at this speech and that not without cause made report vnto the King what they had heard And the King caused him to bee aâ—â—â—â—sted and committed to prison wherevpon being brought in question vpon that fact hee confessed the truth of all the matter and being thereof duly attainted and convicted he was condemned to suffer the paines and torments of death due to Paâ—â—acides and such as were murtherers of their parents Now amongst the manifold numbers of those that have their consciences troubled Of the feares and terrours of tyrants and vsurpers of estates by reason of they wicked and lâ—vâ—d lives and are perplexed and terrified with a million of feares we may well account those tyrants who by vnlawfull and indirect meanes have vsurped a tyrannicall authoritie over their owne native countries or in some strange estate and have changed a good forme of common-wealth and governement into an vniust and tyrannicall power putting to death thousands of persons whom they suspected to bee men of noted vertue and honestie and who might be able to resist their damnable attempts and vsurpations How often have we seene that these men have bin troubled and tormented with most horrible phantosmes imaginations which do com into their heads both sleeping waking How many apprehensions terrors had Phalaris Dionysius Agathocles Pâ—reandâ—r Hipparchus Alexander de Phâ—ra Clearchus Apollodorus and such like butchers of mankinde and how were their fantasies imaginations distracted with feare of their subiects How oft is it to be thought they forsooke their natural sleepes and leapt sodainely out of their beds vpon a feare and imagined conceit that some came to cut their throates and therewithall how often have they supposed and imagined that they have seene sundry visions and apparitions of those whom they have murthered or of some others whome they have feared De sera numâ—nis vindicta Hipparchus by the report of Plutarch dreamed that Venus appeared vnto him and sprinckled his face all over with blood Apollodorus also in a dreame seemed to see how the Scithians fleaed him alive hewed him in peeces and that his heart being then throwne by them into a caldron said vnto him I am the cause of all this mischiefe which thou endurest The Emperour Caligula having caused a great number of Senatours and Gentlemen of Rome to be put to death did never sleepe but a verie small part of the night or if hee did happen to sleepe his sleepe was interrupted and insturbed with a million of strange figures and images which he shaped vnto himselfe in his braine In vita Caligu Sometimes as Suetonius reporteth hee should see the sea as though it were talking vnto him Sometimes he would seeme as though he had a will to climbe vp into heaven and there Iupiter taking him by the feete would cast him downe againe to the ground So Nero after the murther of his mother was frighted with most horrible visions for it seemed vnto him that he saw before him all the furies with their whips and burning firebrands to torment him And Antonyne Caracalla did imagine that the ghost of his father Severus whom he had offended by the murther of his brother Geta was readie to runne vpon him and by plaine force to mischiefe and kill him And vpon the declining of the Romane Empire Thierry king of Italie being a Gothe by nation after he had slaine Simmachus and Boetius his sonne in law two Romane Senatours borne of a most noble family in Rome and who had beene in former times Consulls on an evening as hee sate at supper as Procopius rehearseth it it seemed vnto him that hee saw in the head of a fish served in vpon the table the face of Simmachus in a most horrible shape and fashion with great mustachoes knitting his browes frowning with his eyes biting his lippes for very anger and looking awry vpon him the conceit whereof strooke the king into such a feare as he fell sicke and died thereof soone after Behold then the strange effects of feare which are alwaies and infallibly exceeding great in those who are immoderately surprized therewithal be the same in them either naturall or accidentall Of feares proceeding of some passion 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
and granted against him That it was a thing never heard of in that palace that an extraordinary criminall accusation shoulde be laide against any man that in a foolish wantonnes and youthfull oversight onely without any will or intent to doe evill had adventured to doe that towardes a maiden which in very trueth did not deserve so much as the name of a simple iniury For howsoever he didde fondly in casting this paper into the bosome of the maide yet did hee not attempt to wrong her honour or chastitie neither didde he pursue or sollicite her in any shamelesse manner neither did he vse any dishonest or vnseemely speeches vnto her that might cause her so much as to blush at them And in briefe that he had not offered her any such foule or bitter iniury for the which hee had deserved by the Lawe either reproofe or any extraordinary punishment L. vlt. D. de Iniur And if it did so happen and fall out by chaunce afterward that the maide became sicke yet it was no consequent that he should be the cause of her sickenes Not without reason was that saying of the Greeke Poet Euripides That all those things which happened casually were very diverse and that the gods contrary to humane exspectation did take a pleasure to change things here belowe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is not any man so sound healthfull that can assure himselfe of his health not so much as a day and who knoweth what the evening or the morning may cause to betide vnto him either prosperous or vnfortunate many things doe happen as the olde saying is betweene the cuppe and the lippe Yea but the Complainant saith and averreth That in the scroll of paper there were certaine words charmed by force whereof their daughter fell sicke Certainely their speech is grounded vpon a very vaine and fraile foundation and the same vtterly overthrowes and destroys al their accusation For what man is there so litle seene or so vnskilfull in the course and causes of nature that will beleeve that charmes and enchauntments can have any power vpon men and that a figure a writing a line or a word bredde onely by the refraction of the aire should worke above and beyond nature and should have power to alter or change it in any sort whatsoever Every man knoweth sufficiently how that the Caball of the Iewes which dooth attribute so great force to writings and to the speaking and pronounciation of certaine wordes hath beene reprooved and hissed out of the Schooles by all learned Divines and that Reuclin the Almaine and others who have allowed and consented to the fond dotages and follies of the Caballists and Iewish Rabbines have beene censured and condemned by the Maisters of Sorbonne who did holde that all those enchauntments charmes and woordes which the Cabal vseth are nothing but meere Magicke and therefore without any efficacie as comming from the divell who lost all his power at the comming of our Saviour Christ into the world as hee himselfe hath confessed even by his Oracles vppon enquirie and demaund made to them by the Gentiles that lived after Christ Yea the Paynimes themselves which were guided and mis-led by the Divell did ever esteeme the Arte Magicke and all sortes of charmes to be nothing else but deceiptes and illusions And Plinie reciteth how the Emperour Nerâ— after hee hadde searched into all the secretes of Magicke and had spared no paines to sound the deapth thereof in the end hee found that it was but a meere abuse neither could Tyridates nor Simon Magus perfourme any thing although they had promised to acquaint him with the full knowledge and science of the same Besides it cannot any where be found that any person whatsoever was ever accused of beeing a Magician vnder the good and wise Emperours of Rome For they knew well that all accusation is to be held and accompted vaine where there is no lawfull colour of trespas committed And it is most certaine that Apulcius who lived vnder those good Princes Antoninus Philosophus L. Gracchus C. â—d legem Iul dâ— adult and Pâ—rtinâ—x being accused before Claudius Maxiâ—â—â— the Governour of Affricke That he had allured gained to his love one Pudentilla and had so bewitched her that he had wrought her to marry him was fully acquitted from that accusation as being frivolous vaine and calumnious On the contrary those Emperours which were helde wicked and cruell Princes did finde a faire colour and pretence by the Arte Magicke and the Mathematiques to bring such vnder danger of torment punishment against whom they beare any malice hatred when they were not able to accuse and calumniate them of any other fault or offence How many noble and honourable Romans both men and women didde the Emperour Tiberius cause to be put to death onely vnder colour that they had consulted with the Chaldeans The Emperour Claudius of whome Ausonius speaketh That Non faciendo nocens sed patiendo fuit That is The hurt he did was not in dooing ill But in the patient suffring therof still Did condemne to die as beeing a Sorcerer a poore Knight of Rome because hee bare about him the egge of a Serpent beeing perswaded that the same was good to cause his suite in lawe to goe on his side In vita Carac And Antoniue Caracalla as saith Spartian did likewise condemne those that vsed to carry any tickets or writings tied about their neckes for a remedy against the Tertian and Quartane fevers The historie is wel known of Apollonius Thianeus whome Domitian a wicked Prince did cause to be tormented for his Arte Magicke albeit those that came and succeeded after him to wit Alexander the sonne of Mammea and Aurelianus did honour him during his life and after his death did consecrate Altares and Oratories vnto him And in briefe all the worlde knoweth howe that Valen and Valenâ—iâ—ian for causing so many famous and learned Philosophers and so many noble and woorthy Senatours and Roman Knights to be punished for the science of Magicke have beene reprooved and blamed by many Historiographers as namely Eunapius Zosymus Ammian Marcellin and others who in that regarde onely have over-ranged them in the rancke and number of evill Emperours And they doe marvellously blame those Commissaries to whome the triall and enquiry of this crime was committed if that may and ought to be called a crime which is rather a vayne perswasion or inveterate superstition bred and ingraffed in the hearts of men And therefore the Appellant concluded That both the Decree the Ordinance the Execution was ill and vniust and that the Iudgement ought to be corrected and amended and the partie to bee cleerely dismissed absolved and acquitted On the contrary parte the Defendaunt in the appeale saide and affirmed That the cause was rightly adiudged by the inferiour Iudge And that it was wel and iustly ordered that extraordinary processe should be made and awarded against the Appellant