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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19798	A dialogue of witches, in foretime named lot-tellers, and novv commonly called sorcerers VVherein is declared breefely and effectually, vvhat soueuer may be required, touching that argument. A treatise very profitable ... and right necessary for iudges to vnderstande, which sit vpon lyfe and death. Written in Latin by Lambertus Danæus. And now translated into English.; De venificis quos olim sortilegos, nunc autem vulgo sortarios vocant, dialogus. English	Daneau, Lambert, ca. 1530-1595?; Twyne, Thomas, 1543-1613, attributed name.	1575 (1575)	STC 6226; ESTC S109219	58,911	164

such kindes of witches in the world which we cal diuelish sorcerers Answere mée Anthony doe you agrée with the most holy word of God Anthony God forbid Theophilus that I should disagrée from the same Theop. Therin do you wel for as we are taught in the second Epistle of S. Peter the first Chapter and xix verse The scripture wherin the word of God is contayned is the most sure light and truth which is also inspired from aboue as witnesseth S. Paul in the second Epistle to Timothe the third chapter and xvi verse which notwithstanding the Atheistes of our age do despise and contemne Anthony From those do I vtterly disagrée Theophilus and through the grace of God do I throughly beléeue and yéeld to that holie word Theophil The same woord of God which you acknowledge confesse to be most certen most true hath confirmed that of auncient tyme there haue bin of this kinde of Satanicall witches and Sorcerers which declareth sufficiently that there are certen such witches Looke in the olde testament in the xviii chapter of Deuteronomie looke in the xxvii Chapter and ix verse of Ieremie vpon which place Sainct Ierome thus writeth And Malefici which we may call VVitches or suche as obey the illusions of the diuell whiche are called in the Hebrue tongue Cassaphim Read● Micheas the .v Chapter .xii. verse where as suche witches are ioyned with deuinours and Magicians Reade the .lviii. Psalme and the .viii. verse Read Nahum the Prophete the .iii. Chapter .iiii. verse and such other lyke plac●s And if also you would haue the same prooued vnto you out of the new testament which is the second part of holy Scripture Reade the Epistle of Sainct Paul to the Galathians the third Chapter and first verse Likewyse the .v. Chapter and .xx. verse whereby the most approued and best learned Interpretours both olde new do as it were by one consent agrée that there be certen sorcerers which by diuellish meanes practizes doe hurt the myndes bodies liues of men Anthony You haue recited vnto me very many places which at leasure I will reade at home and conferre together Theophil As touching other aucthours aswell ecclesiasticall as profane wryters who so would recite them all shal see they be infinite proouing affirming notwithstanding all of them that there are certen sorcerers of which I think it not necessary to recite all but onely certen of them Anthony You must studie to be briefe for my part I wil be content with a few Theophil Of ecclesiasticall wryters in nūber of whom I comprehend those bookes of holy Scripture which are called Apocryphi I must first bring foorth for wytnesse the booke of Wisedom the .xij. chap. .iiij. verse Bicause they vsed fortune telling and vvitchcraft sayth he speaking of the Cananites and vvicked sacrifices Secondly the counsel of Carthage also the secōd of Cōstantinople which was in Trullū the .lx. article Wheras namely plainly mēcion is made of these kinde of witches their wickednesse is termed deadly witchcraft Thirdly I wil bring forth Aurelius Augustine to witnesse cheefly in his CC. .vij. sermon of the time which he maketh with great affection against such kinde of men whom also he calleth enchaunters shewing howe they worke their f●ates by ayde of the Diuell making some that are in health to be sicke some that are sick to be whole Moreouer the same August in the .7 treatise vpō the gospel of s. Iohn doth plainly accurse al such which work by enchātmētz bindings other strange meanes of our enemie which is the Diuel therby hurting both men other thinges And fourthly to conclude Trithemius Abbot of Spanhem hath writtē set forth an whole boke of the same argument wherin he answereth vnto those questiōs which wer propoūded vnto him by Maximiliā emperour of the Germanes great graūdfather vnto him which liueth at this presēt What besides this wil you heare Anthony other testimonies of other men yea lawes thēselues Ther is an aūciēt wel known law of the .12 tables which punishid these witches who as was said could remoue corne frō one field into another of which law Plynie writeth in the 28. booke of the natural history the .2 chap. Is ther not also another Romane law of lesse antiquitie thē the lawes of y 12. tables called Lex Cornelia which cōdēneth greuously punisheth the same kind of people Among the Emperours of Constātinople Leo in a certen cōstitution of his which is the 6● doth the same Finally Virgil a man wel seene in al kind of knowlege both in the .3 Eclogue also in the .8 testifieth that there are such that I may ouerpas Troilus de Malueto a great Lawier and Martin Arlaeus a Deuine with me and those welnigh innumerable which liued in later tyme then the aboue named testifying al for a trueth that there are some of this kinde of detestable diuellish witches These be witnesses sufficiēt or els I know not what is sufficient Anthony Yea surely they be moe witnesses then I would wel de●ier But gētle Theophilus I pray you put me out of this one doubt which much troubleth me Theophilus What is that Anthony This forsooth for that S. Ierome a man of no small accompt in his Commentaries vpon the Epistle of S. Paul to the Galathians the .iii. Chap. first verse which place you alleaged erewhile for cōfirmation of your opinion séemeth flatly to deny that Paul euer ment that there were any Sorcerers notwithstanding that hée wryteth thus O ye foolish Galathians vvho hath bevvitched you But therein S. Paul speaketh according to the common custome of men and vulgare opinion not that he beléeued or knewe that there were any such at all Theophil Truely Anthony you haue perfectly recited without booke the m●aning of S. Ierome and surely at the first Ierome in déede séemeth to be of the same opinion but afterwarde vpon the same he addeth a nother thing and straightwayes chaūgeth his opinion which that you may the better perceiue I haue here copied foorth the whole place Bewitching sayth sainct Ierome is sayde properly to hurt infantes and such as are but of tender yeares and not perfectly able to goe alone VVhereuppon a certen heathen wryter hath sayd I know not sure what eie bewitched hath my tēder Lambes This whether it were truely spokē or not God knoweth For it may be that Diuell● may be redy to accomplish this wickednes turning thē away from their good workes● vvhom soeuer they see to beegin or to procede in fulfilling the worke of god So that this may be the cause that we suppose this exāple to haue been taken vpon the opinion of the common people By which woordes it appeareth how doubtfull vncerten that man was in this poynt being also in some other places of the same commentaries very sharply iustly blamed as namely by Augustine of s. Paules lye that no man may think it

be true Theophilus Wherin then doe you disagrée from me Anthony Antho. Forsooth in these thrée thinges First in this that the Sorcerers say and you likewise folowing the truthe of their confession doe affirme the same that verely and corporally they bée present in those assemblies which are called by Satan Secondly where you say that they bee caried by Satan vnto those places Thirdly in that whiche you sayde laste that they can intoxicate men without any mingling of poyson For I can not perswade my selfe that any thing can possibly be by méere voyces wordes figures or charecters hurte holpen poysoned or intoxicated Theophilus I will answere you orderly to these thrée poyntes And as touching the first Doe you not thinke Anthony that Sorcerers doe méete togither and be present in those their diuelishe conuenticles and Synagogues notwithstanding that they vaunt themselues thereof How I pray you then doe you thinke it is Anthony Onely in cogitation of mind and illusion of the Diuell like as in our sléepe we thinke that we haue seene many thinges and to haue beene in suche places where we neuer were and many times that we haue talken with those that are very farre of from vs yea perhaps more than two hundred miles The like whereof happeneth to Sorcerers through crafte of the Diuel who sundry times also deludeth vs in other matters in so muche that oftentimes we thinke that we see touche and feele thinges whiche in deede we neither see nor feele And that you shal not thinke that I am of this opinion without sufficient reason I haue many excellent learned and auncient men of myne opinion Throughout all the discourse of this question you haue often commended Sainct Augustine But he in place where he intreateth of the chaunged shapes of men as in the .xviii. booke de Ciuitate Dei teacheth howe thinges that are beléeued and supposed doo so come to passe in déede for as much as therein that power of the minde which is one of the chiefe fiue and is termed the Phantasie and resteth in the foremost part of the brayne I meane the phantasie is hurt and disturbed by Satans meanes and the outwarde senses buried and by him maruelously troubled Why then should we not so thinke of the méeting and presence of Sorcerers And if drunken men when hote vapours ascende out of their stomackes into their brayne suppose they see such thinges as be absent and if the sickenesse of melancholie doe persuade many thinges to those that are sicke of that disease whiche they neyther doe sée nor are present we may thinke and define that these thinges happen to Sorcerers by illusion of Satan who is of greater force than any of the aboue named causes to trouble the vertues and powers of the minde and not to thinke that in déede such thinges be present or that them selues be in place where they suppose For Satan is able to hurt binde the powers of the minde and strength of the body as Thomas Aquinas teacheth and as before him S. Augustine in the .vii. booke of Genesis vpon the letter the .xi. Chapter hath written Besides this the same S. Augustine in a certayne Epistle of his vnto his familiar friend Nebridius which is the .lxxii. in number distinguisheth the thrée kinds of our fantastical sightes and appearances The first kinde is of them whiche our fantasie or imagination conceaueth of thinges whiche we haue seene The seconde kinde is of thinges whiche our fantasie it selfe hath founde out the lyke whereof it neuer see nor hearde of before The thirde kynde is of thinges whyche our imagination conceaueth and deuiseth vppon the wordes and reporte of other And these ●oyes and imaginations of Sorcerers are of the second kinde namely when our fantasie of herselfe deuiseth and imagineth many thinges Which that I may more substantially confirme vnto you out of the same Authour the same S. Augustine in the hundred and one Epistle to Euodius of straunge sightes writeth that when those sightes are so liuely and effectually represented vnto vs that wee thinke verely wee haue seene them for all that our soules doe not wander out of our bodies neyther goe abroade in those places wherein wee thought our selues conuersaunt but they remayne within our bodies euen in the same moment wherein they behelde those thinges so euidently so that it happeneth by meanes of the obiectes that we see them In the meane season our bodely senses are asleepe within vs so that they can by no meanes be awaked while wee bee occupied in this sighte whereby it happeneth that afterwarde wee beeing awaked suppose that wee talked and dranke and eate and sawe all those thinges The reason is because the liuely and effectuall fourme of all those thinges was represented vnto our mynde wherewith wee were then busied And examples heereof are commonly to bee found● in the same Sainct Augustine For in the hundred Epistle he maketh mention of a certayne Phisition of Carthage called Gennadius who doubting whether after this life there were another to bée hoped for sawe the companies of Aungels and hearde the●● singing so playnely in his sleepe that hee thoughte hee was in heauen whose body notwithstanding lay all the while in the bedde and remayned in the Chamber as hee him selfe afterwarde confessed Likewise in the .xviij. booke De Ciuitate Dei the .xviij. Chapter hee telleth of another who affirmed for a truth that he conferred with a certen Platonicall Philosopher in his sléepe concerning Platoes writinges of whom hee learned the Authours meaning in a certayne place whiche before he vnderstoode not In the booke which is intituled Vitae Patrum the life of the Fathers it is written of a certayne father who not in the night nor in a dreame but at midde day and broade light when he behelde with his eyes his owne daughter it seemed to him that he sawe a Cowe whiche notwithstanding others and especially Macharius acknowledged and testified that it was a humane creature and a Uirgin What Theophilus haue not you your self somtime read in the xvj booke De Diebus Genialibus whiche are written by Alexander Neopolitanus the .xxi. Chapter of a certeyne accused person who thought that he wente downe to hell whereof he reported to the Iudge moste euident testimonies For he discouered and opened a certayne secrete of his whiche was knowne to no man What in the xxvi Canon of Bishop the .v. question whiche was copied foorth of the Counsell of Aquilea is it not there openly pronounced that all these voyces and imaginations of Sorcerers are but vayne showes meere toyes and illusions of the mynde whyche Satan chyefe workeman of suche trumperie representeth vnto them theyr bodyes notwithstandyng remayning styll in the same place In conclusion that I may at length shut vp all this place these bée the wordes either of S. Augustine or whosoeuer els was aucthour of that booke which is intituled De spiritu litera where in the 28. chapter he writeth thus VVherefore

néedefull to geue vnto the thing new vertues and properties which he can by no meanes doe For the true God is onely aucthour and creatour of the properties which are in thinges Thirdly that a true miracle is such a worke which surpasseth the vertue and power of all thinges created be they neuer so excellent Wherefore Sainct Peter the Apostle in the third of the Actes the .xij. verse when he had healed the lame man and had wrought a true miracle sayde thus Yee men of Israëll vvhy doe you wonder at this or vvhy doe you looke vpon vs so earnestly as though vve had vvrought it by our owne power or godlynesse that this man should vvalke The God of Abraham the God of Isaac c. By which wordes it is signified as you sée that the power to worke miracles is proper vnto God onely Anthony But the blessed Angels Apostles and many other holy men haue wrought miracles Theoph. Truely they haue wrought miracles by the working of God in them For the power which worketh them is in God onely and in him onely resident and neuer transported to any creature for as it is written in Esay God will neuer geue away his peculiar glory to another Wherefore they whom you haue last recyted Good Angells Apostles Prophets and holy men in woorking of those miracles which they are reported to haue done were onely gods instruments in working of them that meere passiue not actiue as they terme them and yet notwithstanding it followeth not that if God vsed the ministrie of those his seruauntes he doth also vse Satan likewyse woorking miracles by him also For God of his iustice wyll not communicate his glory in such measure vnto Satan and Diuells as hée geueth it vnto the blessed Angells and holy men Which is euidently confirmed by this onely example in as much as Moses and Aaron the seruauntes of God wrought true miracles which Pharaos Magicians although they were schollars very well practized in the artes of Satan and his most excellent mynisters could neuer doe the lyke acknowledging the true effect thereof to be wrought by the finger of God onely and confessing that the thinges which they did farre surmounted the course of nature as it is wrytten in the eight Chapter of Exodus the eightenth verse And the cause of this diuersitie betwéene Satan and the true seruauntes of God and the diuersitie of his counsell and prouidence is this in that Satan in woorking of miracles séeketh not the glory of God but the good Angells and holy men haue onely regarde and respect to that So that many tymes these men are the instrumentes of God but he neuer is And although this bée true that Satan of himselfe can doe nothing but how much and when it pleaseth God to geue him leaue so lykewise neither can hée destroy nor chaunge the order of thinges determyned by God neither hath God geuen him such power neither that he may woorke by any other thinges then naturall although sometymes they be hid from vs finally he enforceth them with such celeritie that the whole woorke séemeth vnto vs to be a miracle For he quickly gathereth the meanes and causes whereby he worketh As for example he soone gathereth cloudes together to cause rayne he soone driueth together thickneth the Ayre that thereby he may represent vnto our sight some shape or thickened visible body and in a momēt he can compound poysons to do hurt withall immediatly he can resemble or driue away whatsoeuer is of him required or demaūded Moreouer he worketh all these thinges with such swiftnes that the expedition thereof seemeth straunge vnto vs which notwithstanding he worketh al by naturall causes Wherefore as I haue sayde before figures drawing of lines and circles noyses enchauntments breefly superstitious mumbling of certen prayers are not the causes of such thinges as the Sorcerers doe worke but rather pleadges and tokens onely of Satans promises vnto them So then Satan himselfe worketh those thinges which they thinke thē selues to haue done by vertue of those meanes For he hath instituted these tokens which he will not haue seeme either vnprofitable either impossible or friuolous Wherfore all those thinges are done by meanes of Satan onely Wherein the opinion of Saint Ierome onely who doubteth thereof ought not to moue vs For he wauereth therein and Iohn Chrisostome is flatly against him in his homilies vpon the Epistle of Sainct Paule to the Galathians the iii. Chapter and seconde verse and others also of no lesse aucthoritie And among later wryters what Peter Martyr an excellent well learned Deuine wryteth vpon the .xxviij. Chapter of the first booke of Samuel all men doe well knowe Wherefore to conclude in fewe woordes Satan woorketh all those thinges vpon couenaūt By the same meanes it commeth to passe that Sorcerers doe coniure exorcize as they call it the Diuell or call him foorth or call him vp or speake with him face to face hauing apointed and agreeed vppon such couenauntes that at sometimes he should appeare and at other tymes depart away ▪ After this maner Numa Pompilius the seconde king of the Romanes a great Magician Sorcerer if euer there were any communed and talked oftentymes with Diuells as Plutarch a graue authour wryteth in his lyfe And now Anthony that I haue answered vnto your thrée questions what remayneth there more Anthony I aske you this question whether all the poysons which Sorcerers doe vse be mortall and bring men into perill of death Theophilus Why would you learne this of mée which they them selues doe not knowe God onely knoweth that in whose hande lyeth our death and lyfe not in the power of the Sorcerer no not of the Diuell him selfe as it is wrytten in the eight Chapter and ninth Uerse of ●cclesiasticus For the mynde and desyer of the Sorcerer is varyable in that poinct many times to doe hurt onely for a tyme they caste theyr poysons vppon men and oftentymes theyr poysons bée mortall and deadly And therefore when they bée threatned they seeke meanes to vndooe and take away theyr poysons from those whome they haue bewitched and poysoned and therein they requyre healpe of the Diuell howbeit sometimes they cannot vndooe it whatsoeuer they attempt forasmuch as God hath otherwyse determined of vs For he hath appointed the tearme of our lyfe which we can not passe as it is written in Iob the fouretenth Chapter and fift verse Anthony Ouer and besides this Theophilus after they bée come intoo the Iudges handes and caste intoo Prison can they then vse those their poysons and doe any harme Theophilus If I shall saye what I thinke I wyll aunswere that they can if so bée they haue any conference with theyr maister Satan But if you aske mee what the common people think thereof surely that they can not So that if they can by anye meanes fréely and commodiously come by those theyr Diuellishe poysons and conferre wyth Satan as otherwyse they myght if they