adventurous beganne to rush vpon Monsieur the spirite saying vnto him Sir if you be the Divell I am his damme And therewithall he curried him so lustily with sound blowes of his cudgell that the spirite which was of no other substance than flesh and bone did so well feele his Bastanadoes as hee cryed out for pardon and saide hee was Maister Iohn At this worde his neece leapt out of hir bed and stayed herfriend from dealing with him any further And this shall suffice to speake of artificiall devises which doe in a sorte seeme very cunning and subtile and do passe withall so cunningly as the most crafty are overtaken and abvsed by them Wee will now proceede to speake of other artificiall prankes more grosse and not so fine and such as are played and vsed vpon sottish and simple witted persons Of iests wher by simple persons are deceved and deluded lib. 2. of the Courtier It is a thing very ordinary and vsuall with common Iesters to be alwayes deluding of simple and credulous folkes And you may well thinke how easie a matter it was to make that man beleeve any thing whatsoever of whome Balthasar Castilion speaketh who was easily perswaded and drawne to beleeve that hee was starke blinde The history is thus Two Bouffons or pleasant companions after they had long played and jested with a poore simple fellow made him in the end to lay him downe And within a while after they having put out the candle made a shew as if they had beene still playing at the cardes and did perswade him who was layde that there was light still burning in the chamber and that they did still holde on play Insomuch as at last this poore man began to cry out vnto them saying Oh sirs I am blinds The others replying vnto him and making shew as if they did come neere him with the candle said that he was deceived and that it was nothing but a fantasie that was come into his head for that his eyes were still very faire and goodly to looke vnto Ayme quoth he this is no fantasie nor I see no more than as if I never had had eyes in my head This poore sotte say I woulde have easely beene made beleeve all manner of false visions that any man could have presented vnto his sight And if his companions had withall made a noyse and rumbling in the Chamber it had beene enough to have scared and frayed him as if the Fairies and Spirites had already taken him by the shinnes Besides it is a common tricke of vnhappy boyes to make especiall choice of Churchyardes there to terrifie others Churchyards places most suspected for spirits to walk in because those are helde to be places most suspected for Ghostes and Spirites to haunt in and inhabite In those places they will sometimes set Crevises alive or Tortoyses and putte a burning candle on their backes and after will let them to go to the intent those that shall see them slowly marching or creeping neere about the sepulchres may suppose them to be the soules of dead men In himno Mercurii And truely Homer saith That the Tortoise is armed with deceipt and imposture or that I may vse his owne worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Meaning in my conceit That by her simple persons are deceived in the night season More than that there be of those Streete-walkers and idle companions which wil apparel themselves like warre-woolves and take vnto them the habite of some supposed spirite or Divell and so keeping neere vnto the sepulchres of the dead they will counterfeit themselves all the night to be ghosts and spirites Lavater recounteth how it happened one day in a Towne of Switzerland named Zurich Libr. 1. de Spectris that certaine yoong lusty Gallants and carelesse youths having changed their apparell did daunce all night long and within a certaine churchyard and it happened that one of them more pleasantly disposed than she rest taking vp the bone of a dead man did play therewithall vpon a beere of wood that was neere by and was vsed for the carriage of the dead corpes and hee made it to sound as if he had beene playing on a Tabor Some there were that happened to perceive it who as it seemeth being none of the wisest did presently spreade abroade throughout all the towne and reported that they had seene a daunce of dead men and that it was greatly to be doubted that some plague and mortalitie would follow after it Certaine it is that it is much the worse when as such fooles doe finde others as very fooles as themselves For else it might happen that their trumperies and deceiptfull illusions which they prepare to abuse others would fall vpon their owne heades and they might chaunce at some time or other to be so well marked for their labour as they would remember it all their lives after But if these maister fooles doe gaine little or nothing in playing the divelles towardes such as are more divelles than themselves So doe they as little advantage themselves when they thinke to terrifie and make afraide such men as are wise and of a minde settled and assured and who doe not easely or without good proofe and triall beleeve all things to be Spirites which doe appeere hideous and strange vnto them To this purpose there is a very notable Historic recited by Lucian of Democritus an excellent Philosopher in his time In Dialogo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Democritus being willing to withdrawe himselfe into a solitary place that hee might the more at his ease intend the study of Philosophy without being troubled by any body made choice of a sepulchre that was large and deepe in the ground and seated without the citie of Abdera within the which enclosing and shutting himselfe vp hee beganne to write and compose many things containing matter of notable and great learning The young youths of Abdera who esteemed him little better than a foole being advertised heereof apparelled themselves in the habite and shew of spirites and taking vnto them blackeroabes and certaine hideous visardes made like in shape vnto dead men having their sculles bare and naked they did environ the sepulchre round about dācing leaping fetching their gambolds in a round never ceasing still to intermingle straunge cries and voyces in their dauncing Democritus for all this mummery would not so much as lift vppe his eyes from his Booke but continued still writing of somthing all that time But in the end being weary of their cries and noyse he sayde vnto them Cease cease my friends to play the fooles thus as you doe and vse your fooleries to some others for I knowe you well enough Neverthelesse Guido Cavalcanti did in another forte aunswere certaine yoong Gentlemen of Florence that came to feare and terrifie him within a Churchyard where hee was verie busie and intentive in coutemplating certaine auntiént Toombes and Sepulchres For as Boccace affirmeth having
a substance without a body presenting it self sensibly vnto men I say a substance without a body because that euery body must of necessitie haue longitude latitude and profunditie which otherwise wee call thicknesse and ought therefore by consequence to bee palpable and subiect to handling which in Spirits is not possible who clothing themselues with an ayrie bodie and being of themselues substances without bodyes are not palpable neither can be touched with the hand But of this we will entreat hereafter more at large and of this point especially Lib. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whether the diuels haue a body of ayre as Origen maintained or whether they bee pure and simple Spirits and may enter into a dead body and moue the same as if it had sense and feeling which is a thing that happeneth very seldome and is against the nature of Spirits and Apparitions It followeth in our definition which presenteth it selfe and appeareth vnto men sensibly I say to men because Specters doe neuer appeare to any other creatures but vnto those which are reasonable Numeri 22. Homil. 13. in Numer sub finem And although wee read in the Bible that the Asse of Balaam saw the Angel yet as Origen writeth That was contrary to his owne proper nature not onely that it perceiued and sawe the Angell but also that God opened his mouth and made him to speake So that both the one the other of these points is in very truth an impossibilitie to all beastes and vnreasonable creatures aswell for that they want the Organ or instrument of mans voyce as also for that they neither haue reason whereby to discerne Specters Phantosmes from true bodyes nor yet vnderstanding whereby to be illuminated with the bright beames of discerning superiour things which doe onely enter into the consideration of the soule and into the discourse iudgement of humane vnderstanding The consideration wherof hauing with some preuailed more theÌ„ was fit who being not able to conceiue in their thoughts how an Asse should be able to see an Angel or to speak they were perswaded moued thereunto peraduenture with the authoritie of some Rabbins that the Asse was a Diuell disguised which Balaam by force of his magicke Charmes had coniured to cary him toward Balaac But in my opinion there is neither reason nor any apparance of truth in their saying But we ought rather to take the very litterall sense and meaning of the Scripture and to thinke that it was a very naturall Asse and not forged and framed by enchantments Moreouer it is added in the definition of a Specter that it presenteth it selfe against Nature That is to say against that common order of things which naturally is established in the world since the creation thereof So that all Apparitions aswell of Angels as of diuels may be accounted as myracles and doe neuer shewe themselues but that they presage and fore-shew something Besides this word against Nature doth put a difference betweene the name of a Specter or Apparition and those which the Latynes call Prodigium and Portentum The former of which the Hebrewes name Mopheth wee not hauing any apt tearme for it may call it a Prodigie and the latter for that we cannot otherwise name it in our language we may likewise call a Portent Lauater saith Portentum is a betokening of strange things to come in time Nowe the Prodigie doth differ from a Specter in that it commeth naturally happeneth often yet notwithstanding doth alwayes presage some euill or strange thing to come And the Portent is when certaine Coelestiall bodyes vnusuall and vnaccustomed of which notwithstanding a naturall reason may be rendered doe appeare in the avre as Comets or Blazing-starres Flashings of fire Lightnings in a cleere and faire weather and others of this kind which doe alwayes presage some euil to ensue after a certaine season For so doth Fostus Pompeius define Portentum and all the Grammarians after him Some may say vnto me That a Mouster is also against nature and that therefore my difference is of no strength nor certaintie But the answere is easie because I sayde before That a Specter is a substance without a body which putteth a notable and plaine difference betweene a monster and a Specter For a monster is a liuing creature and by consequence a corporall substance which is borne or brought foorth hauing strange members or is of another kinde then that wherof it is engendered This therefore shall suffice for the definition of a Specter or strange Sight and Apparition CAP. II. Of the diuers Names and tearmes which are often vsed in the matter of Specters IT will not bee amisse if now in the Discourse following wee deliuer and explane all those termes and auncient Names by which both the Hebrewes Greekes and Latynes haue vsed to expresse and name all kindes of Specters both good and bad to the which we will also adioyne those of the Arabians and of other moderne and later Authours both French and Italian to the intent that nothing may be wanting whereby this our Discourse may bee beautified and enriched Of the seuerall names of good Angels The good Angels doe alwayes take their Names their vertues and their properties of God as Michael Gabriel Raphael and by the two principall Languages to wit the Hebrew and Greeke they are named by the Name of Messengers For Malach in the Hebrew signifieth a Messenger and commeth of the vnusuall word Luach which signifieth to declare or denounce And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greeke doe denotate asmuch The Arabians doe a little change the Ebrew word and do call an Angel Melech as is often read in the Alcoran of Mahomet Moreouer in the same signification of a Messenger or Coelestiall Ambassadour is taken also the Hebrew word Chasmal whereof as I thinke was deryued the auncient name of Chasmillus by which both the Thuscans and Latines in former times did name and designe Mercurie the Messenger of the Gods For as wee shall shewe in another place the greatest part of the names of the Paynim Gods both those which they placed in the Heauens as also their home-borne or countrey Gods and their Infernall Gods likewise were drawne from the Hebrewes The which if Chrisippus had vnderstood he would not haue laboured and toyled himselfe so much to finde out the Etimologie of their Names In lib dena â—uâ— Deoâ—um as hee did as Cicero witnesseth of him Moreouer the Angels are called Ruhhoth that is to say Spirits which Dauid also testifieth saying Râ—h in the Aâ—â—bian tongue iâ— an Aâ—gel commeth of Ruach a Spirit Osè malachau ruhhoth Who maketh his Angels his Spirits placing Ruhhoth in the plurall number as if hee would haue vs to vnderstand that Intellectuall and Spiritual things such as are pure subtill and separated from all confused grosse and ayrie matter were made Angels by God the Creator And
so doth S. Lib. 15. cap. 23. de ciuitate Des. Augustine interpret that place And forasmuch as the Angels were created by God strong and puissant and are ordayned as Iudges of the world hauing the Regiment and gouernement thereof in diuers charges degrees and authorities For this cause the Hebrewes call them also Abirim which signifieth strong and Elobim Gods or Iudges And because they haue their vnderstanding sharpe quicke and subtill therefore they call them also Shanim which ought to be vnderstood both actiuely and passiuely For besides that of themselues they haue their vnderstanding quicke and subtill they doe also sharpen and open the vnderstanding and Intellectuall powers of men whom they visite Of the seuerall names of Diuils or euill Angels amongst the Hebrewes Greeks and Arabians Now the euil Angels diuels are also named like as the good Angels are Malachim by the name of messengers yet so as they haue an addition of an Epithet sit and answerable to their wicked euil nature which is Raaim The which some being deceiued by the affinitie of the Letters haue turned into Rashim which signifieth Heades Chiefes or Colonels But I do not know that I did euer read the word Rashim simply for Diuels And if it bee in any place vsed for the same it is rather by way of an Allegorie then otherwise as I am not ignorant that the Hebrewes allegorically doe call the Deuils The diuels in the auncient French were called Guelsers of the Almanie word Vaguerant id est Vagabond which commeth of the Hebrew word Gala. Rashe-galijoth That is Heads or Chiefes of Captiuitie and Chiefes of mishappe and of encombraÌ„ce Moreouer the deuils are called also as the angels Ruhhoth Spirits and in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Spirits deceiuers and wicked and euill spirits They are also tearmed by the Greekes Daemones and Diaboli Daemones because they bring feare vnto men and Diaboli because they are Detractours Lyers slaunderers which the Hebrewes doe expresse also in their Language by the Name of Satanim which in the vulgar Translation is translated Diuels Calumniators and enemies And the Arabians euen to this day doe retaine this name For they call the Diuels Satainim as is to bee seene in diuers places of the Alcoran Besides they are called of the Hebrewes Elilim as authors of all Idolatrie and of the Idoles of the Paynims And of this name in my opinion is deryued the worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which as writeth Macrobius The auncient Greekes did vse to call both Apollo and Bacchus which in very truth were two Diuels that had more Images erected in their names then any other of the Heathen Gods and did longest of all abuse and seduce the Greekes the inuentours of all Idolatrie The seuerall names of diuels amongst the Latynes The Latynes also for their partes are not vnfurnished nor vnprouided of fit Names proper and significatiue touching Diuels For they vsed by diuers and seuerall Names to call them Lares Laruae Lemures Genij Manes And that those which they termed Lares were Diuels It appeareth in that Cicero translating Plato his Timeus calleth that Lares which the Philosopher named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Diuels The Grammarian Festus agreeing with Cicero saith also that they are Infernall gods or the soules of men And as touching the regard of the soules It is no strange matter to finde in S. Augustine and other auncient Authors That our forefathers beeing Gentiles did thinke That the soules of men after their dissolution from the bodies did become Daemones or Diuels Of Lares or Domesticall gods or diuels In lib. 6. Acneidos in the expheatioÌ„ of the ver Sedibus huncrefer ance suis Now these Lares were domestical or houshold gods because as Seruius said in olde times the dead bodies were vsually enterred and buried in their houses And therefore those Lares that is to say the soules of the dead were adored and worshipped euery one particularly in that house where their bodies were enterred Of the name of Lares was deriued that of Laruae which were Shadowes or Ghostes tormenting the domesticall and particular inhabitants of priuate houses And certaine it is that euen in the time of our fathers the Polapians being a certaine Northerne people before they were reduced to the Christian faith did bury the bodies of their parents in the harthes of their Chimneies and for default thereof they were vexed and tormented with Spirits that appeared vnto them The Philosopher Plutarch likewise doth affirme that these Lares haue the ouersight of houses In Problem Râ—â— and that they are most seuere and cruell exactors and punishers of faultes committed and searchers or Inquisitors of the life and actions of those persons which are within their iurisdiction or precincts And he saith that they are clothed with Dogge-skinnes because as the Dogge is a beast that excelleth in sent and smelling so doe they as it were smell out a farre off the sins and misdeedes of men to the intent they may sharply punish and chastice them for the same But hee might haue added this rather if hee had beene a Christian That as Dogges are naturally enuious So these Lares or Diuels of this kinde do beare enuy and malice to mankinde Notwithstanding Festus whome we do gladly alledge seemeth to affirme That these Lares are sometime good for he names them sometime Praestites because they were thought to make all things safe and to keepe and preserue all thinges carefully and sometimes Hostilios for that they were supposed to driue away enemies But howsoeuer it bee certaine it is they were no other then verie Diuels who if they seemed sometimes to ayde and helpe men and to doe them some good yet the same was to the intent they might afterwardes worke them the more and greater harme and damage aswell inwardly in their Soules and consciences as outwardly in their bodies and goods Touching those Spirits which they call Lemures they are reckoned amongst the Laruae or hurtfull Spirites Of the Spirits called Lemures and are indeede Diuels which doe appeare in the night in the forme of diuers Beastes but most commonly in the shape and figure of dead men And Parphirus the Interpreter of Horace calleth them the Shadowes or wandring soules of men that dye before their time which is but an errour of the Pagans and hee addeth That the name of Lemures commeth of Romus the brother of Romulus by the chaunging of one letter into another because the Ghost or shadowe of that Prince did pursue Romulus his murtherer who to the intent hee might pacifie it instituted a feast which as the auncient Romane Calender and Ouid do set it downe was solemnized on the ninth day of the moneth of May Li. 5. Fastorum and by the Romans was called Lemuria which is as a man should say The feast of the Hob-Goblins Gli Farfarelli Maz zaruoli or Mazzapengoli Warre-Wolues or
pleasure and content to the Emperour Besides there was kept the greatest silence that could bee imagined And Domitian himselfe being present did nothing else but without ceasing speake and talke vnto them of murthers death and sâ—ragedies In the end the Emperour hauing taken his pleasure of them at the full he caused their Pages and Lackies which attended them without the gates to come in vnto theÌ„ so sent them away home to their own houses some in coches others in Horselitters guided conducted by strange vnknown persoÌ„s which gaue them as great cause of feare as their former entertainment And they were no sooner arriued euery one to his own house had scant taken breath from the feare they had conceiued but that one of their seruants came to tell them that there were at the gates certaine which came to speake with them from the Emperour God knowes how this message made them stirre what excessiue lamentations they made and with how exceeding feares they were perplexed in their mindes there was not any no not the hardiest of them all but thought that hee was sent for to be put to death But to make short In the ende those which were to speake with them from the Emperour came to no other purpose but to bring them either a little piller of Siluer or some such like vessell or peece of Plate which had beene set before them at the time of their entertainment after which euery one of them had also sent vnto him for a present from the Emperour one of those Pages that had counterfeyted those Manes or Spirits at the banquet they being first washed and cleansed before they were presented vnto them This History putteth me in remembrance of a gentle frumpe giuen by Plancus vnto Pollio who as Plancus was enformed hauing made a booke against him and being not purposed to publish it till after his death he said very well merrily that with dead men none did contend but the Laruae that is Ghostes and shadowes But to our purpose it is euident that the auncients did confound together al those Spirits which they called Laruae Manes and Daemones And Festus saith that the Manes were called Daemones or Diuels by contrarietie of speech as not beeing good For Manuus in the auncient verses of the Gentils which they sâ—ng vnto their Gods in dauncing did signifie Good And those Manes were euer numbred amongst vnlucky spirits for Virgil calleth them Numina Leua Sinister or vnluckie Powers such as they vsed to appease by Sacrifices to the intent they should not annoy nor endamage them The Paynims also did imagine and beleeue that these kinde of Spirites Manes did send ill and vnlucky dreames to these that contemned them Which the Poet Tibullus confirmeth saying Lib. 2. Elege Ne tibi neglectimittant insomnia Manes The like also is affirmed by Virgil in this verse Lib. 6. Eneid Et falsa ad coelum mittunt insomnia Manes And I am of opinion that these are the same sort of Spirites Lib. 1. aduersus haereses cap. 20 which as Irenaeus writeth the followers of Simon Magus called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Diuels which sent dreames vnto such men as had contracted a league of allyance with them as did the Simoniâ—ns Some learned men do confound also the Manes and Genii together and they say that those which were our Genii during our liues do not leaue vs after our deaths but dwell and inhabite with vs in our graues and Sepulchers And therefore those men that did destroy and deface the sepulchers of the dead or did as the Ciuilians speake offer violence vnto those monumentes They were punished as troublers of the rest and ease of the Gods Manes and especially if they did transport or carry away the bones of the dead out of their Sepulchers And it was alwayes the maner to set vpon their Tombes or Sepulchers an Inscription to the Gods Manes which was expressed in these two letters D. M. that is Diis Manibus And there was nothing more common throughout all the auncient Marbles and Monuments both of Rome and other places which maketh me in a manner to beleeue that the name of Manes may well be drawne and deriued of the Hebrewe word Manuach which signifieth rest as if a man would say The Gods of rest or The Gods of the dead which are at rest I knowe well that the Soothsayers of the Romans did holde this opinion That they were called Manes because that of them they thought to proceed and spring forth all thinges whatsoeuer in the whole world And for this cause they made and reckoned them both for supreme or celestiall and infernall Gods also And others likewise haue deriued their name of Manando a Latine word which signifieth to spring forth or to issue from and they say that those places which are betweene the circle of the Moone and the earth are full of these spirits Manes the which the Poet Lucan seemeth to allude vnto and to affirme in these verses That which appeares a voide and empty space Lib. 9. de Bellâ— Phâ—â—salicâ— Betweene the Moone and this our earthlie Base The Manes Demie Gods do it inhabite Whose chiefest care was whil'st they liued in it To leade their liues in honesty and goodnes Whose holy vertues shining with beames of brightnes Did giue them strength themselues aloft to reare Betweene the fierie Region and the ayre There to liue euer their blessed soules arranging In circles round and Globes of fire flaming Wherein we are to obserue that Lucan held opinion That the soules of such as liued well in this world were after their departure chaunged into these Manes that is into Spirits or Diuels which confirmeth what we haue before said namely That the Painims did beleeue that the soules of meÌ„ departed were transformed into spirits of an ayrie Diabolicall nature But of this we shall speake more another time when we shall handle the question of the soules of men We wil now proceed to speake of other kindes of Spirits or Diuels which the Auncients had and obserued with names more speciall and particular Of particular Diuels and their names vsed amongst the auncients Of Hecate The most famous and notable Diuel which first commeth to be considered in particular is that hellish and infernall Hagge which the Auncients called Hecate and as the Greekes affirmed did vse to send Dogges vnto men to feare and terrifie them And Lucan affirmeth that these Dogges were helde to be excessiue great as Elephants exceeding blacke and hayrie These Dogges may well bee compared to Arthurs Chace which many do beleeue to be in FraÌ„ce Arthurs chace in France saying That it is a Kenel of blacke Dogges followed by vnknowne Huntsmen with an exceeding great sound of Hornes as if it were a very hunting of some wilde beast But Nonnius a Greekish Monke in a Booke not yet Imprinted wherein he interpreteth the Fables and Hystories which
Gregory Nazianzene hath set downe in his Prayers against Iulian the Apostata saith that these Monsters of Hecate which shee maketh to appeare vnto them that inuocate and call vpon her by way of Conjuration are not Dogges but vnmeasurable great Dragons with heads so fearefull and hideous that they which see them doe rest so amased confounded as they become for the time like dead men And therefore it is fayned of Vlisses Odisse â— that in his going downe to hel to see and question with the soule of Tyresias after hee had spoken to the soules of many dead men hee would not stay saith Homer the comming of Hecate for feare least she should present vnto him the head of some hideous Monster The custome of Hecate was to howle in the night about the streetes and turnings of Citties and Townes Lib. 4. Aeneid as Virgil recounteth which is the cause that some haue thought why the Greekes did call her Brimo Howbeit that the Scholiast of Apollonius the Rhodian recyteth that shee was so called because that Mercurie beeing willing to rauish her by force shee growing enraged made so filthy a noyse and gruntled so horribly against him that the God for feare left her and fled from her The husband of this Infernall Goddesse was Pluto of Pluto alias Dis. or Dis so called of the name of Riches as wee know that amongst the Hebrewes likewise the Diuell for the same reason is called Mammona Mammon Hee was called also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not for that hee is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say in Darknes and Inuisible But because he was the Cause and Authour of the death destruction and desolation of mankinde by his temptation And for this cause hee is termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Hebrewe word Ed and is the very Ophioneus or Serpent the sworne enemie of God which as Pherecides said did contend and fight with Saturne and is the same Ate which Iupiter chased from Heauen which at this day doth range vp down marching wandring in the Heads of men That is to say doth ordinarily and continually tempt them and cannot be chased nor driuen away but by Prayers which are said to be the Daughters of Iupiter The Aegyptians did by another name call this Prince of diuels Serapis the God of the Aegyptians and the deriuâ—â—â—â—n therof Charon whence deued Serapis which commeth of Saraph that is to Burne And in the same sort may the name of Charon the Ferrie-man of Hell be deriued of the Ebrew For Charon is as if one should say Furie Wrath or Rage But in the Creeke it signifieth not any thing Howbeit it is not to be thought that the Paynims would haue giuen him that name without some reason Gods of the Paynims Their names deriued from the Hebrewe And I am perswaded that they retained this name as also many others of their Auncient Gods by tradition from Iaphet and Iauan and Dodanim and their children who did yet speake the Hebrew tongue Of the selfe same Originall came Cerberus Cerberus whence deriued the tryple-headed Dogge of Hell which the Greekes did striue to interpret but in vaine and which I cannot thinke to come of any other then of Celeb baarets which is to say Dogge of the Earth or Diuel Infernall For by the name Dogge the Diuels were sometimes signified and designed and namely in the Magicke of Zoroastres they are called Dogges of the earth And certaine Cabalists interpreting that which is written in their Caball How the people of Israel comming out of Aegypt no Dogge did barke against them They say that by Dogge is to be vnderstood the horrible and hideous face of the Diuels whom Moses did so well bridle by the Diuine Power that they could not worke any let nor hinderance to the Israelites in passing on dry foote through the red Sea Of the names of Diuels appearing in the shape of men But let vs passe on to other Deuils and first of all let vs entreat of those that vse to shew themselues in the Masculine forme and shape of Men and afterwards we will speake of those Specters that vsually appeare in the shape of women There was amongst the Greeks Of wrastling spirits or Diuels a Diuel which was named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the wrastling Diuell And thereof commeth the name of Lutin or Luitton which is very vsuall and common in Fraunce For Lutin commeth of Luitte which signifieth to wrastle I remember to this purpose that there was one of those wrastling diuels of which Strabo speaketh who wrastled against all Strangers that happened to come into Temesa a Towne of the Brutians in Italie was called the Temescan Diuel or Wrastler He was in times past a man named Polites one of the Companions of Vlisses And hauing beene slaine of the Brutians by treason hee inforced himselfe after his death to torment as well Strangers as those who had beene the authors of his death Of the spirit or diuell Alastor or the destroier Besides there was the Diuell Alastor the auenger or punisher of misdeedes which the Scholiast of Euripides writeth to be so called because nothing was hidden from him In Medea and as it is in the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And it may be that this is the Diuell called the Destroyer which the holy Scriptures and Origen doe call Azazel and which Zoroastres allegorically nameth the Hangman Contra Celsum or Executioner saying that it is not good to stirre abrode or to issue forth when the Hangman is walking in the Countrey that is when the Diuell the Destroyer doth execute the vengeance of God The Onosceles are also men Deuils hauing legs like vnto Asses so saith Psellus and the Satyres likewise Of spirits or diuels called Onoscels of Satyres which are Demy Goates which the holy Scripture calleth Hayrie Diuels or Sairim inhabiting desert places and farre off from the frequence of men Of these Satyres Faunus prince of the Satyrs Faunus was the chiefe or Prince to whom the Romanes did attribute all kindes of fearefull sights or terrours those Specters that presented themselues to be seene in diuers formes and they named him Iupiter Faunus And whensoeuer they heard any horrible or diuellish voyce they appeased him by Sacrifices yea they raised an Aultar vnto him in the Mount Auentine Iâ—â—h 6. RoÌ„ hist Of Pan the God of Shep beards as witnesseth Dionisius Halicarnasseus The God Pan was not much vnlike in shape to Faunus For he was as the other a Demy Goate from the nauell downewards and as it is well knowne to all men generally he was chief of Sheepheards of whom Virgil writeth Of Sheepe and Sheepheards too God Pan he hath the care He was called of the Latynes Inuus so saith Macrobius in his Saturnals A name that in my opinion commeth of Aeanas which signifieth to afflict and torment
Idilio prime And it seemeth that Theocritus did esteeme him the diuell of the Mid-day saying That he was very terrible and to be feared when he presented himself that houre Theocritus doth place the choler in the ende of the nâ—stâ—ls So in the Heb we Ap doth expresse both the one and the other And hee bringeth in the sheepheards conferring and one of them speaking thus No t is not good nor safe to sing at Noone I le feare God Pan who then to wrath is prone Redoubted â—an whom cruell fiercenesse haunteth When that has choler at his nostrils hangeth And in very truth it is not without reason to thinke That Pan is the Diuel of the Mid-day because that all Deuils that are in any sort terrestriall and materiall as Pan doe loue the Sunne as Psellus affirmeth and the greatest force which the sunne hath is at Midday And this may very well serue to interprete that Fable which recounteth how Pan loued Eccho which Macrohuis interpreteth to be the Sunne which beeing as the harmonie of the world Pan loueth and followeth perpetually Of the deuil of Mid-day what it meaneth But seeing wee are now intreating of the Spirite or Diuel of the Mid-day It is to be vnderstood that the same is a certaine diabolicall and pestilentiall blast or puffe of winde the most dangerous that may bee I say a blast or Spirit that commeth from the Desert as is written in Iob and destroyeth ouerturneth Iob. 1.19 and breaketh downe all that it encountreth or meeteth withall Likewise Dauid nameth it Cetch Psal 9.5.6 Iashud tsahorim That is to say The Diuel that â—poilethand destroyeth at noone day For Iâ—shud signifieth the Diuel and is deriued of Shad hauing the same signification And it is to bee marked That Dauid there setteth downe three sorts of deuils very horrible and fearefull The Arrow that flyeth by day that is to wit the secret temptation of the Diuell made vnder some faire pretence which is so dangerous that it sooner striketh and hurteth then can be perceiued whence the blowe commeth Secondly the Plunge or trouble that is the Diuel For the Hebrew hath Deber which walketh in the darkenesse or during a darke and obscure tempest or storme for the word Ophe doth import both the one and the other And certaine it is that in the night and during any strong and violent tempest the Diuel hath great power and puissaunce either to tempt men or to afflict and torment them both visibly and vnuisibly as wee shall haue occasion to shew in another place The third and last is The Plague that destroyeth at Noone-day or the Diuel of the Mid-day In lib. Iob. which Origen writeth to bee more violent in his tempations at that houre then at any other time or houre of the day and if he doe then appeare hee is more furious and abounding in rage and furie This sort of Diuels the Hebrewes do name Meririm and Reshaphim That is Diuels raging in furie at Noone-tide Pestilentiall Diuels Burning Diuels that with their breath or touching onely do kill and destroy as appeareth by that Diuell of the mid-day the which as Procopius maketh mention shewed himselfe in his time Lib. 2. de bello Persico Of the Diuell or Spirit called Empusa the history we shal take occasion to recite in another place The Greeks gaue it the name of Empuse which both Suydas the Scholiast of Apollonius haue noted interpreting it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Aristophanes doth very pretily describe it where he bringeth in Dionysius his seruant Xanthias going downe into hell to bring Euripides from thence back again into the world where as they were arriued Xanthias crieth out vnto him in this maner X. Oh I perceiue a beast most horrible and strange D. What beast tel me X. I know not It doth change Her forme into a thousand shapes for sometime It s like an Oxe and straight it is a mountaine Sometimes it seemes a woman of great beautie D. Oh where is she where is she shew her to me I le go and giue her battel presently X. But O good Gods what strange sight do I see Euen in an instant she her shape hath altered And from a woman is to a dogge transformed D. Oh then t is an Empusa X. A sparkling flame Shines brightly glistring round about her face Her eye through piercing her looke is inhumane A logge of brasse supports her in her pase Of the Spirits called Familiars But this shall suffice touching the Diuel of the mid-day after which next commeth to be considered those Spirits which the Greeks cal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are those that the Magicians do vse to shut vp in a viall or boxe or in some character or cipher or in a ring which they carry about theÌ„ Lib. lection antiqua And it seemeth that Celius did not vnderstaÌ„d this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wheÌ„ he vndertook to interpret Eusebius whom he did rather make more dark and obscure then giue any light vnto him as it was euer his custome so to do with al good Authors But if we will rightly interpret it word for word it may be tearmed a Diuell giuing Counsell or a Familiar Diuell giuing his aduice vnto such as haue made a compact conuention with him Of Diuels that speake out of the bodies of persons De defect Oracul Next to these Spirits there are others not much differing from them are those that entring into bodies doe speake through the bellies of the parties possessed with them The Greeks called them Pythons Engastrimythes or Euriclees as Plutarch affirmeth And the Hebrewes named them O bim Of the Spirites called Incubi in English the Night-mare Thâ—â—lde 〈◊〉 â—â—xicoÌ„ 〈◊〉 way 〈…〉 the 〈…〉 incubus 〈◊〉 Lab 15. de Ciâ—â—â—ate Dei. There be also a kind of Diuels or Spirits in the sorme of men whose delight is in lasciuiousnes are as wanton lecherous as Goats of whoÌ„ as I suppose amoÌ„gst the Greeks Pan was esteemed the chiefe commaunder howbeit the Latines do tearme him Incubus I haue read in some Hebrew Doctours that the Prince of these Diuels is called Haza wee in Fraunce doe call them Coquemarres and Folletts and the auncient Gaules as S. Augustine affirmeth named them â—râ—sâ—es or Diuels of the Forrests And their nature is as the same Doctour sayth to desire to rauish and force women Lib. eodem 4. quaest in Genesim in the night time to go into their beds to oppresse theÌ„ striuing to haue carnall companie with theÌ„ O the spirits called Succubi The like doe those Spirits which are called Succubi which are diuels passiue as the former actiue taking the forme of women doe seeke to enioy their pleasure of men Of which Succubi the chief Princesse or Commandresse is called by the Rabbins Liluh That is to say An Appâ—rition of the Night The Iâ—wes in theâ—r prayeâ—s at â—â—â—â—ing
dâ—e yet at this da◠〈◊〉 â—â—â—od to kâ—â—â—â— thâ—m from 〈…〉 Pâ—â—â—â—is of the name Laïla which signifieth Night For such diuels doe not vse nor exercise their force against men but in the Night-time But to conclude this Part of our D. scourse touching diuâ—ls shewing themselues in the forme of men I may not forgâ—t that diuel which the Greekes called Eurynomus so famously reported of by Pausanias who writeth Of the Spirit called by the Greek 〈◊〉 Eurynomus That it eateth feedeth only on the carkasses and bodies of the dead in so much as it leaueth not any part of theÌ„ but the bare bones that it hath teeth of an exceeding great length and sticking farre without his mouth that the flesh thereof was of a leaden pale and wan colour such as our Muscles are when they are separated from the other flesh and that it sheweth it selfe continually clothed in a Foxe-skin Which description of it maketh me to thinke that the Auncients did signifie and denotate by this Diuell no other thing but death which after the decease of men doth consume their bodyes leauing nothing but their bones which cannot waxe rotten in the earth and hath long teeth because it deuoureth all is clad in a Foxe-skin that is to say taketh men at vnawaies and vnprouided vsing suttletie and cunning as doth the Foxe Now that we haue sufficieÌ„tly entreated of meÌ„ diuels we will come to those that haue the forme of women Of spirits appearing in the shape of women Of the Gorgon Of which kinde were those Gorgons which the Antiquitie fained to be rauenous gluttonous Of this number also are Acco Alphito monstrous women by naming of whoÌ„ Nurses did vse to feare their litle children from crying and from running forth of dores In like sort Mormo of which is deriued the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mormo and the first word Marmot was one of those with which they terrified little children of which Theocritus maketh mention in one of his bookes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where hee bringeth in a woman speaking threatning her Infant with the Marmot And Nicephorus in his Ecclesiasticall History writeth of a woman Specter which vsed to appeare in the night and was named Gilo Gilo Erynnes or the three Furies oâ— hâ—ll Alecto Mâ—gera Tisiphone Likewise those which the Greekes called Erynnes or Eumenides were euill Spirits which hauing the figure of a woman were thought to appear vnto those which had their hands defiled with murther And to euery one of them was giuen a proper name for the one was called Alecto that is Vncessantly tormenting Another was named Megera which signifieth Enraged And the third Tisiphone which is as much as to say The auenger of murther These Furies or Spirites as olde fables tell vs did appeare vnto Alemeon and Orestes after that the one had killed his mother Eriphile the latter his mother Clytemnestra and they did so torment them that both the one and the other became madde and furious But Orestes to appease them as saith the Greeke Interpreter of Sophocles did dedicate a Temple vnto them and named it the Temple of the Eumenides that is In Aia. Masâ—â— goph of the peaceable and gracious Goddesses The Poet Euripides doth very liuely and naturally represent the feare which Orestes coÌ„cciued seeing these Infernal Furies to approach neere vnto him For hee maketh him to pray entreat his mothet Clytemnestra not to send after him these Furies which saith hee haue their eyes so bloodie and more horrible then Dragons Of the Spirits called Lamiae The Lamiae were likewise Spirites and Specters of the female kinde Howbeit Dion Chrysostome saith that these are certaine liuing creatures or wilde beastes inhabiting the vtmost and desert places of Afrikâ— which from the face to the nauel downewards were so excellently well and perfectly formed and proportioned in beautie throughout all those parts and members of their bodies as the most exquisite Paynter could not with his Pensill so well expresse them And their fashion was to lay open discouer their Alablaster neckes their brests and their faire pappes to the eies and sight of men that so they might allure and draw them neere vnto them theÌ„ would they forthwith eate deuoure them And to this purpose the Prophet Ieremie saith The Lamiae haue discouered Lament 4. and drawne forth their breasts haue shewed their dugs The Hebrew word of Lamiae in that place of the Prophet is Thanin which signifieth a Dragon and a Whale which shewes that these Lamiae besides the face of a woman had some moÌ„strous I know not what thing in them Also Dion whome I before alledged writeth that in stead of feet they had the heads of Dragons But howsoeuer it be that some say they are liuing creatures yet the Hebrew Doctors do interpret them Diuels of the Desert in expounding that word of Esay Tsiiim Esay 13. In vita Apollo nii that it should signifie Lamiae And Philostratus is of the same opinioÌ„ and coÌ„foundeth the Empusae the Lamiae the Laruae all which he calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and saith that these women after they haue allured vnto them by their deceitfull entisements such as are faire and beautifull they do fat them vp being fat they kill them that they may sucke their bloud of the which they are wonderfully desirous holding it to be most delicious and delicate And to this purpose he reciteth a most memorable History or rather a Fable of one Menippus a young and beautifull Philosopher A History of one Menippus beloued of a Diuell This Menippus had beene beloued of one of these Lamiae which did entertaine and dandle him with all manner of delights and pleasant allurements that it could possibly deuise to the inteÌ„t she might afterwards execute her will vpon him as she had formerly done to others whome she had bewitched and enchanted with her loue It chanced that one day Menippus inuited the Philosopher Apollonius borne in Thyana to dine with him The Tables were very curiously dressed and furnished with all kinde of exquisite and delicious dainties The Court Cupboord well garnished with great store of Plate both golde and siluer The Hall hanged with rich Tapistrie and nothing was wanting that could possibly be prepared But Apollonius hauing discoursed and made knowne vnto Menippus that the Mistresse of this goodly feast was a Lamia in continently all vanished away both the woman the Table the Cupboord the Plate and the Tapistrie yea and the very lodging it self which before seemed to be mounted aloft in a most proud and stately building and the goodly high hal the roofe where of hanged ful of laÌ„ps became suddenly to be a little poor cottage or cabbin wherein nothing remained after the depâ—rture of the Lamia but darknes horrour and a filthy stinking sauor I am not ignorant that Sorcerers are tearmed by Apuleius Lamiae In Asino
aureo Glossarium Strigae Lastrygones And they of the countrey of Auergne in France do call them Fascignaires that is Witches or Inchaunters of inchanting or bewitching men with their looks And the Italians cal them Fatechiare or Streghe of the Latine name Strix which is a bird reported to suck the blood of little childrē lying in the cradle of which the Lamiae are also very greedy and desirous the reason wherof is yeelded both by Suydas and the Philosopher Fauorin born at Arles in Prouince The which they groūd vpon a certaine olde stale fable which is this That Iupiter falling in loue with a beautifull Nimph named Lamia did beget on her a child which Iuno of a ielosie caused to be strangled whereupon the said Lamia of pure despight did neuer cease from that time forwards to work mischief to other folks childrē Howsoeuer it be so is the report that Sorcerers do likewise vse to strāgle little infants And because they haunt and frequent the graues and Sepulchers of the dead and vse to bee abroade in the night time as doe the Strigae It is not without reason that they are called Lamiae and Struiae and birdes that flye and frequent the graues The which was not vnknown vnto Lacian and Apuleius who in their Metamorphoses haue fained that a Witch or Sorcerer by meanes of a certaine Oyntment did change himselfe into a Bird and so flew vnto one of whome he was enamoured But as touching that Bird which of the Latines is named Strix and of the Greekes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In French it may be called Frezaie Of the Scritch-Owle Lib. 11. cap. 39 Natur. Histor that is in English a Scritch-Owle Howbeit that Pliny knew not what bird it was rightly and neuerthelesse he placed it amongst the Iniuries of the Auncients And by certaine Greeke Verses which Festus alledgeth one may soone see that it was held a Bird full of vnluckinesse and misfortune the summe of which verses is thus Driue hence O powrefull Gods this hatefull Scritch-Owle That thus by night doth fright vs in our bed Dislodge O Gods this most vnluckie Fowle Send him to sea on shipboord to be lodged Next after the Lamiae we may reckon in the number of women Diuels Of the Harpies the Harpies which the Greekes called the Dogges of Pluto and the executioners of his vengeance of whome Virgill writeth that they spake vnto Aeneas Lib. 3. Eneid and foreprophecied what should betide and happen vnto him after his arriuall into Italie The Sphinx also was a woman as touching her head and for the rest of her body like vnto a bird Of the Monster or Diuell called Sphinx hauing her wings of so variable and changeable colours that as Plutarch writeth turning them towards the beames of the Sunne they had the colour of Gold and casting them towardes the clouds they were of an azure and like vnto the skie or the Raine-bowe Those that haue read the fabulous History of the Thebans doe knowe what notable mischiefe was wrought vnto them by this mōster which either was a Diuel or possessed with a Diuell till such time as Oedipus had resolued and expounded his Riddle But I will not speake any further hereof for that the fable is sufficiently knowne to most men I will now come to intreat of the Nymphes of the auncients Of Spirits called the Nymphs in English the Fayries which are those whome wee at this day doe call Fées and the Italians Fate in English the Fayries And that these Nymphs were of the nature and number of diuels It appeareth by this that in former times they which were possessed with Diuels were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Rauished and taken by the Nymphes whose maner was to runne vp and downe as furious and mad persons distracted and did foretell to men things to come Now there were Three sortes of Nymphes One sort was of the Aire as that Sibylla Three sorts of Nymphes of the Avre the Earth the Water which Plutarch affirmeth to wanderround about the Globe or Circle of the Moone there to chaūt what things shuld afterwards ensue Others were of the Earth as the Oreades Dryades Amadryades Carmenta Fatua Marica Egeria other such like Nymphs De sera numivindict And the last were of the Water as the Naiades the Sirens the Nereides which we may deriue of the Hebrew word Nahar which signifieth a sloud Of Nahar a Riuer is deriued Nar a riuer in Italy and another Nar in Dalmatia and lik◠wise Nereus is the father of Riuers or a Riuer for that these Nereides are no other then the Riuers Daughters of Nereus or of the Ocean father of the Sea and of Tethis who is called Tit that is the Earth within the cauernes and pores whereof beeing first engendred of the salt seede of the Ocean they doe for a time abide and remaine till such time as beeing sweetened they doe issue out by their fountaines and springs and as good and obedient daughters doe goe to yeelde tribute to their father and their mother that engendred them and with whome they doe perpetually remaine and continue beeing still new bred or engendred with a newe birth or generation still continuing And seeing we are now gotten into this Allegory of the Nereides Of the Muses and the Sirens and the Allego ricall meaning of them both It seemeth good vnto me to touch also that of the Nymphes vnder whome I will purposely confound or ioyne in one both the Muses and the Sirens For like as wee haue saide there bee three sortes of Nymphes Of the Ayre of the Water and of the Earth Three sorts of Muses so Varro maketh Three sortes of Muses One that taketh their originall of the mouing and stirring of the Water Another that is made by the agitation of the Ayre and engendreth soundes And the third which consisteth onely in the Voyce and is earthly Three sorts of Sirens The like may wee affirme of the Sirens because Parthenope which hath a feminine face and countenance noteth the Voyce which being of the Earth is as the most graue and weightie And Lygia beeing full of sweete and pleasant Harmony designeth the soundes of the Ayre And Leucosia tearmed the White Goddesse designeth the motion of the Water whereof is engendred the white froath or foame of the Sea So that wee see that by the Allegorie both of the Muses Nymphes and Syrens is nothing signified or comprehended but the whole Arte of Musicke which consisteth in three thinges Harmonie Rythme or Number Musicke consisteth in three thinges Harmony Rythme or Number the Voyce and the Voyce which the Greekes call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Harmonie is of the Ayre The Number is of the Sea which passeth not beyond the boundes that GOD hath set and limitted it and goeth continually to and fro in his course of ebbing and flowing according to the encrease and decrease of the Moone
a perpetuall daunce vpon the waters and that in dauncing and leaping they approach and come neere to Marriners or Sea passengers and so to guide and conduct them to their desired Hauen Now daunses or leaping and vawting in measures haue neede of nothing as saith Aristotle but onely of Number measure and true cadence Finally the Nymphes of the Land haue the Voyce Of the land-Nymphes and that the Voyce is proper to them Fatum or Fate whence deriued That the Nymphes are no other then Diuels proper vnto them And for the most part they are fayned to be Diuiners Prophets and Poets as Egeria Hersilia Carmenta the Camenae and the Goddesse Fatua the wife of Faunus of whome I may deriue the name of Phataa that is to say Destinye and where of is come the Latine word Fatum Now for a conclusion of al this Discourse certainely if all these Nymphes of which I haue spoken haue at any time appeared vnto men It can not be imagined but that they must needes be Spirits and Diuels And the truth is that euen at this day it is thought that in some of the Northerne Regions they do yet appeare to diuers persons And the report is that they haue a care and doe diligently attend about little Infantes lying in the cradle that they doe dresse and vndresse them in their swathling clothes and do performe all that which carefull Nurses can do vnto their Nurse children And surely the Auncients had the same opinion of them For the Poets say that Iupiter was kept in his Infancy of the Nymph or Fairie Melissa and that Bacchus as soone as hee was borne was carried away by the Nymphes or Fayries Nysa was saide to be nurse of Bacchus and of her he is cal led Nyseus to bee nourished by them in the Denne or Caue of Nysa and that by them Hylas a yong lad was rauished and carried away Antinous taken and Adonis pulled away from the Barke of the Myrrhe tree which was his mother transformed and Metamorphosed To be short if I should recite all the Fables which are written of them I should neuer make an ende Onely this I will adde that those Fairies or Nymphes which I said did attend about little Infants to dresse them as Nurses may well bee those Diuels or auncient Goddesses which were said to haue the charge of the birth of Children and for that cause were named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But I would gladly knowe and learne who did put it in the heades of olde folkes and other simple persons and Idiots that the Arcades the Theaters the olde Fountaines or Water Conduits the Bathes and Great stones pitched vp aloft Of diuers olde famous works and buildings supposed to be the works and dwellings of the Nymphes were the workes of the Nymphes or Fayries Was it trow ye because it hath beene continually held and commonly thought that the Spirits and Nymphes or Fayries haue loued ruinous places and that for this cause the olde ruines of great proud admirable buildings decayed haue bene said to be the houses dwelling places or the workes of the Nymphes Surely as touching their inhabiting in ruinous places Esay witnesseth it where he saith Esay 13. That the Syrens or Nymphes shall possesse their houses and there make their retrait abiding The dwellings of the Nymphes described in Homer and Virgil are sufficiently well knowne that they were in dennes or caues farre remoued and concealed from the sight company of men builded wrought by themselues in the naturall rocks hard stone And Homer for his part hath so well and perfectly described the Caue of Ithaca where these Fayries did abide that Porphyrius hath taken the paines to interpret and explane at large the ingenious order of their building and Arctitecture At this day is to be seene the Caue of Sibylla Cumana neere to Naples of which also Iustin Martyre doth partly make mention and sayeth that the report went how in that Cell she wrote her Prophecies Besides the Temples of the Nymphes called by the Greekes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and of the Latines Lymphaea were alwayes situated without the Citties and Townes in solitarie places and farre remoued from any dwellinges as appeareth by the Lymphaeum of Rome which was on the other side of Tyber and stoode alone and aside fró the Suburbes And so did the other Téples caues of the Nymphes whereof Strabo and other Authors haue written But seeing wee haue sufficiently discoursed of the names of Angels Spirits and Diuels It is requisite that we now set downe the reasons and arguments of those men that deny their Apparition to the ende we may to the vtmost of our power confute and refell them CAP. III. Of the Opinions and Arguments of the Saduces and Epicures by which they would proue that the Angels and Diuels do not appeare vnto men MAny there haue bene at all times and in all ages which haue impugned stiffely denied the Apparitions of Diuels Angels and Spirits But some haue done it in one sort and some in another For there be some who to ridde themselues altogether from the question and disputation that might be made concerning particular and special matters which are often alledged in regard of the Apparition of Specters doe bend themselues against them all in generall That so by cutting of the roote and vndermining the foundation of a Principle well grounded they may the more easily cause the ouerthrow and downefall of all that which dependeth vpon the same They deny therefore Of the severall opinions of sundry sorts of persons thâ—t de nvâ—d the being of spâ—tus c. their Apparitions that there are any Angels or Diuels at all or any Spirites seuered and abstracted from a corporall substance or bodie to the ende that by consequence they may inferre and conclude that there are not likewise any Specters nor Apparitions of Spirites Such were the Saduces as we may read in the Actes of the Apostles and the Epicures Actes 23. The first opini on of the Saduces Epicures other Atheists and the greatest part of the Peripatetickes and all sortes of Atheistes whatsoeuer Of which last there are at this day more huge numbers abounding within this our Realme of France then would be tollerated These men would not sticke to affirme if they durst and were it not for feare of the Magistrate that it is free for men to abandon themselues to all kinde of iniquitie impiety and dissolute liuing for so doe they murmure and mumble when they are alone and by themselues that there is not either God or any Spirits at all good or euill nor yet any hel where the souls of men shuld suffer any paines or punishment but that they dye together with the body And that all whatsoeuer is saide or alledged touching hel torments is nothing but a vaine and superstitious toy and fable onely to make babes and children afraid and to wrappe
and tye the greatest persons of the world in certaine bonds of a religious superstition for so are the wordes of Lucrece in this behalfe And I doe beleeue that they do often say in their harts that which Pithagoras the Samian is alledged in Ouid to haue saide to the inhabitants of Crotona in Italie Why stand you thus in feare of Styx and such vaine dreamings Of Manes and of Spirits which are nought else but leasings Certainely hee that should take vpon him to instruct these Athiests should but loose his time because they will admit of no reasons no not of those that are meerely natural For seeing they do not beleeue him which hath the commaund and rule of nature how can they yeeld any credit or beleese vnto those reasons that are drawne from nature it selfe Other persons there are who The second opinion beeing more religious and honester men then those former yet haue no lesse denyed the essence of Angels Diuels and Spirites Howbeit they haue beene of this opinion that by reason both of the distance betweene them and vs and of the difficultie of appearing in a humane body they cannot possibly present themselues vnto vs Others also there haue beene who haue referred all that which is spoken of the vision of Spirites The third opinion or the Sceptickes and other followers of the Philosopher Pirrhon vnto the naturall and perpetuall deprauation of the humane senses Such were the Sceptikes and the Aporreticks who were the followers of the Philosopher Pirrhon as also the second and third Academie who held That the senses were they neuer so sound could not imagine any thing but falsely and vntruly Againe The fourth opinion some others with more apparance of reason then the Scepticks haue affirmed that aboundance of MelÌ„acholy Choler adust frensie feuers the debilitie or corruptió of the senses be it naturally or by accidét in any body may make thé to imagine many things which are not And they do infer that such as happen to be attainted with these maladies do think that they haue seene Diuels and other such like Specters They adde moreouer that the feare superstition and credulitie of many is such that they will most commonly suffer themselues to be drawne into a beliefe and perswasion of that which is quite contrary to truth To make short The fist opinion of Lucian and others Others there be wise enough and fine conceited yet neuerthelesse being great mockers and incredulous because they themselues did neuer happen to see any vision nor haue euer heard or touched any supernaturall thing they haue beene of this opinion that nothing could appeare vnto men that exceeded or went beyonde the course of nature Lucian an Infidell Atheist and Scoffer And of this number Lucian was one who being also as great an Infidell as any could be saide I beleeue no part of all these Apparitions because I onely amongst you all did neuer see any of them And if I had seene of them assure yourselues I would beleeue them as you doe NotwithstÌ„ading for all this he opposed himself against al the famous and renowned Philosophers of his time and held argument against them though as himselfe confessed they were the chiefest and most excellent in all kinde of knowledge and learning And hee was not ashamed to stand onely vpon his own bare conceit and opinion impudently maintaining without any reason at all against them that were as wise if not more wise then himselfe and more in number that forsooth nothing at all whatsoeuer was said or alledged touching Specters ought to be admitted or beleeued But what reasons I pray you doth he bring to confirme his saying Truely none all but that onely of his owne absolute and vncontrowled authoritie hee will drawe to his incredulitie all others whome hee seeth to bee assured and settled in their opinion Notwithstanding that they are certainely resolued of the truth by the exteriour senses with which they haue perceiued and knowne that to be true which so constantly they doe maintaine and defend But how can it possibly bee that a man should thinke without any shew of reason by incredulitie and mockery onely to confute and ouerthrowe that which hath beene euer of all men and in all ages receiued and admitted Certainely this is the fashion and guise of mockers and scorners that that which they cannot deny nor yet haue a wil to confesse they will finde the meanes to put it off with a â—est and laughter and so thinke secretly to insinuate themselues into the mindes and conceites of their hearers especially such as looke not nor haue a regarde to the truth and substance of a thing but onely to the outwarde shadowe and grace of wordes and glorious speeches Such a scorner needeth not any great knowledge because it is sufficient for him to bee superficially skilfull in any thing so that hee can with a kinde of graue smiling grace shift off the reasons and arguments of those whose knowledge and learning is so exceeding farre beyonde his as during his whole life he will neuer attaine vnto the like Thus did Machiauel carrie himselfe who amongst the learned Machiauel a Scoffer and an Atheist and men of skill and iudgement knewe well how to make his profit of his scoffes and pleasant grace in iesting whereby he would many times strike them out of countenance in the sight of them that heard him whereas if he had come to dispute with them by liuely reasons and solid Arguments hee would at the very first blowe haue beene ouerthrowne and confounded But in the ende hee discouered himselfe sufficiently and was reputed of all men no other then a Scoffer and an Atheist In Musas as Paulus Iouius testifieth of him But wee will cease to speake any further of him of Lucian and of those of their humor and will returne to our matter touching Specters the which that wee may the better explane now that wee haue briefly declared the diuersitie of opinions of those that insist vpon the contrarie wee will aunswere vnto each of them in order as they haue beene propounded And first as touching the Sadduces the Epicures the Peripatetickes wee will seuerally answere their Arguments which they obiect against vs Next wee will remoue those difficulties which are obiected and shew how the Angels and Diuels may take vpon them a bodie Afterwardes wee will shewe and discouer vnto the Sceptickes that the humane senses are not so faultie and vncertaine as they would make men beleeue And last of all to the intent we may leaue nothing behind wee will not forget to shew by what maladies and infirmities the senses may be hurt and troubled and the Imaginatiue power of man wounded and chaunged so as all that which is supposed to be seene is meerely false and vntrue To come first of all to the Sadduces It is most certaine The opinion of the Sadduces that of all men they were the most
grosse and carnall and did not beleeue that any thing was spirituall but they did imagine all to bee corporall because they said that the Humane vnderstanding doth alwayes worke with the Phantosme and with the thing Imagined And it appeareth that in dreaming of any thing whatsoeuer we doe alwayes imagine it to be corporall whereupon they conclude that all thinges are corporall therfore that euen God also is a corporall Substance which is the greatest absurdity and blasphemy that can be imagined in the world For if we should restraine God into a body we must also make him subiect to a body so saith Saint Iohn Damascen which in a word is to restraine and shorten the power and omnipotency of God the which being infinitely aboue al substances both corporall and incorporall is not subiect to their Category Exod 3◠Homil. 22. in Marth The reason that moued them to beleeue that God was corporall was a place of Moses for they did not receiue nor admit of any Scriptures but the fiue Bookes of Moses as sayth Origen wherein it is written That God made Moses to stay in the Caue of a rock or moūtain putting his hand vpon him did shew him his hinder parts not suffering him to see his face And therefore in regard that Moses attributeth vnto God a face a hand and other parts they conclude that God hath a body Of the same opinion also was Tertullian as witnesseth Saint Augustine De Origius Animaium Volum 2. Tit. 23. writing to Optatus and the Bogomilles being certaine Heretikes of Bulgarie who thought that God was as we are so writeth Enthymus and that from his two eyes out of his braine did issue two beames the one called the Sunne and the other the Holy Spirite which is a most blasphemous and intollerable errour Now the occasion why the Sadduces did so egerly defend and maintaine that God had a bodie was because they would deny all incorporall substances to which effect they thus argued The argument of the Sadduces If God say they haue created any substances he created them to his owne Image and likenesse and therefore when he made man he saide That he made him according to his own Image shewing therby that he was of a corporal substāce because that man whome he formed to the paterne of his own face is corporall And if God haue made nothing but what is corporall It followeth that the Angels and Diuels which are saide to bee Spirits are nothing but meere fables that there be not any soules or spirits separated from a corporall substance and by consequence that the soule of man is mortall as the bodie and hath no neede to be reunited thereunto by the generall resurrection But it is easie to answere them by denying plainely that God is corporall The argument of the Saduces answered or hath any body For albeit the holy Scripture doth attribute vnto God handes feet face eyes and other parts of a body yet this must be vnderstood spiritually and by those corporall and bodily members we must imagine the spiritual vertues of God according as saith S. Gregory In Moralibus as by his eyes we must vnderstand his foresight and his knowledge to the which all things are open and from which nothing is hiddē and concealed By his hand is meant his Almighty power and puissance By his face the plenitude and fulnesse of his glorie By his hinder parts his glorie is shadowed as vnder the vayle of some certaine forme and similitude And whereas they say that the vnderstanding doth work with the Imagination and that wee doe imagine God to bee a corporal Substance This hath no reason nor any apparance of truth at all but is an errour common to them with the Epicures to the which wee will aunswere anone And as touching the Angels I doe greatly maruell how the Saduces can deny the beeing of them seeing that Moses in many places doth make mention of them and of their Apparition We may therefore very well say of them that they vse the Bookes of Moses as men vse their Stirroppes in lengthening and shortning them at their pleasures This is the reason Contra Tryph. why Iustine Martyre did not reckon them in the number of the Iewes and that worthily but reputed them as Heretickes not allowing them any place in the Iewish Church by reason of the fond and absurde opinions which they held not onely of God but also of the Angels Diuels and soules of men which they affirmed to bee mortall But as concerning this latter point wee shall speake more hereafter Let vs now cōsider the Argumēts of the Epicures The first errour of the Epicures is The opinion of the Epicures that God hath a bodie as the Saduces did beleeue likewise And their first Argument was That nature it selfe forsooth did teach and admonish vs to beleeue The first argument and reasons of the Epicures that both God and all Celestiall essences were corporall for two reasons The former was because the Gods are not figured in any other then in a humane forme And the second because whether it be in sleeping or in waking when wee dreame or imagine of the Gods no other forme doth present it selfe vnto our imaginations but a humane shape And therefore they conclude that the Gods are in figure like vnto men But vnto this argument Cicero answereth sufficiently Lib. de natura Deorum That such humane shape and forme is attributed vnto the Gods Answere to the first argument of the Epicures by the inuention of men and that either it proceedeth from the wisedome of the Auncients who thought thereby they should the more easily draw the spirits and minds of the ignorant to the knowledge of spirituall and supernaturall things and that they should the sooner bring and reduce them into the way to liue well and vertuously Or else that the same had it beginning and first footing from a blinde superstition which doth most easily allure men to adore those gods which are portrayed and carued in a forme most pleasing and agreeable vnto men Or else that it is but a fiction of Poets and Paynters who haue alwayes beene audacious to faine and deuise any thing rather then that which shold be according to truth verity And this last point may wel serue to answer that which the Epicures say that be it in sleeping or in waking the gods do not presét themselues vnto vs in any other then a humane forme For this is certain that by the portraiture and pictures which we see of the Gods in those formes which are common and familiar vnto vs we doe imagine though falsly that which may resemble vnto vs the same which we haue seene to be painted Insomuch that Iupiter seemeth vnto vs to haue a face and countenance terrible with his haire blacke and hanging backwarde as Phidias did graue him And Minerua had her eyes blewe or of an azure
colour as Homer describeth her Mercury was painted like a young man hauing his eyes alwayes open as one that was euer waking with bright yellowe hayre and a yellowe downe vpon his chinne and cheekes as if it did but newly begin to frizzle or to curle Venus had her eyes delicate and wanton and her lockes of golde yellow Iuno had grosse and thicke eyes rising vp towardes her head like vnto the eyes of an Oxe And so generally were the rest of the Gods painted by the Gentiles in diuers formes and fashions Notwithstanding all this proceeded of nothing else but from the errour of our Imagination which suffereth it selfe to bee deceiued and seduced by the painting which imprinted in it a kind of false notion I say a notion because the ignorant common sort of people is perswaded of the same and suffereth it to take place in their minde or vnderstanding which is as easie also to be deceiued as is their Imagination But a man of wisedome and iudgement who hath his vnderstanding more cleare and open is not easily therewithall seduced but notwithstanding al paintings and fictions his Intellect or vnderstanding power pierceth through the Imagination as the Sunne pierceth or shineth through the cloudes and spreading it selfe with her light doth easily beleeue in a spiritual manner that God and the Angels are Spirituall The second Argument of the Epicures The second Argument of the Epicures touching the humane bodie of God was that God tooke vpon him that forme which was or could be imagined to be the most beautifull in the whole world And they say that the humane forme or shape is of all others the most goodly and excellent And therefore wee ought to thinke that God is carnall and corporall as men are Hereunto needeth no answere to bee made because the consequence of their argument is not good Answere to the 2. Argument viz. That God should retaine vnto himselfe the Figure of a man because the same is the most excellent of all other creatures in the world For the Diuinitie of God neither is nor can be in any corporall substance But it is an Incorporall and spirituall essence which hath nothing common with that substance which is proper vnto these earthly creatures The 3. Argument of the Epicures The third last argument of these Philosophers is a Gradation or heaping vp of Syllogismes which kinde of argument the Greekes call a Sorites and they frame it in this sort It is held and confessed of all that God all other celestial powers are exceedingly happy But no person can be happy without vertue And vertue cannot bee present in any without reason and reason can bee in none but in the figure and shape of man Therefore it must bee granted that the Gods which haue the vse of reason haue the forme of man also But the whole frame of this Argument Answere to the 3. Argument may soone and easily bee dissolued by denying that reason can bee in no other then in a humane shape For both God and the Angels who haue a diuine and spirituall vnderstanding haue the vse of reason notwithstanding that they be not of a corporal substance And reason in man commeth not of the humane body but from the soule of man which is Spirituall Diuine made vnto the likenesse of God and capable of reason of prudence and of wisedome Now whereas it might be obiected to the Epicures That in making their Gods to haue a humane bodie they doe therein make them subiect to death and dissipation To auoide this absurditie Absurdities in the opinion of the Epicures they doe tumble into a greater affirming that their bodie is as a body and their bloud as bloud not hauing any thing but the lineameÌ„ts proportioÌ„ of a man being exempted froÌ„ all crassitude thicknes which in a word is asmuch as to say that their Gods were rather Idols of men theÌ„ very men and rather framed by the paterne of men theÌ„ as men in truth substance which is a thing the most ridiculous that can be imagined But will some say To what purpose serueth all this touching our matter of Specters I haue saide before that the Saduces did maintaine God to haue a bodie to the ende they might the better deny the appearing of Specters which are substances without a bodie Also the Epicures made their Gods to haue bodies that so they might holde them in the heauens idle and doing nothing and by consequence might deny their Apparition vpon Earth Of the opinion of the Epicures who thought there were no Diuels nor Spirits In vita Bruti For as touching Diuels or Spirites they beleeued there were not any but did confound them all in the number of their Gods And that they did but make a iest of Specters appeareth by the speech of Cassius in Plutarch and in that that Celsus halfe an Epicure writing against the Christians Lib. 2.6 8 â—â—â—tra Celsum did denie them flatly and absolutely as is to bee seene in Origen who hath aunswered him and did reproue the Christians in that they would allowe of any powers or Spirites contrary to the Gods supposing according to his owne saying and opinion that there were no Diuels Besides that hee made a mocke and a iest of Angels and of the Resurrection of the bodie and generally of all those Apparitions which were made both in the old and new Testament And now that wee speake of contrary powers Contra Stâ—ices it putteth mee in remembrance of a speech of Plutarch who reproueth Chrisippus for that in this vniuersall body of the worlde so well ordained and framed he should graunt so great an inconuenience to wit that there should be a kinde of Diuels afflicting and tormenting men to the disturbance of the concord and harmonie of the world Which being well ordained by the Authour and maker thereof ought not to bee thought to beare or sustaine any thing which should be incommodious to it self and by lapse and coÌ„tinuance of time should worke the confusion and destruction of the same But it seemeth that Plutarch repreheÌ„ded Chrisippus vpon a desire and humor of contradiction rather then moued vpon any iust cause or matter of truth For the diuels do not worke any domage or inconuenience to the world being bridled restrained by the hand and power of God And if they do torment men or tempt them it is to exercise them or to manifest the glory and iustice of God of the which they are sometimes made the executioners S. Bernard in Sermone 1. de transla S. Malach Diabolus inquit malleus calest is opificis factus est malleus vniuersa terra And as in each Common-Wealth well instituted there bee executioners ordained for the punishment of Malefactors and such as trouble and disturbe the publicke peace and good of the common-weale and yet the vniuersall body of the coÌ„mon-weale is not therby offended
or endamaged but to the coÌ„trary rather it receiueth much more profite and commoditie Euen so God hath placed and left here below in this world Diuels and wicked Spirits to be as tormenters and executioners to wicked men that so his iustice might shine the more glorious to the comfort of the godly and of his elect that liue in the loue and feare of him But to come againe vnto the Epicures It is most certaine that they were no other then the followers of nature and that onely so farre as thinges did fall vnder their outward senses Of the Arguments of the Epicures mad against Specters and Apparitions And if one should alledge vnto them that any Specters Images and Visions had presented theÌ„ elues they would refer the same for the most part to the coÌ„course perpetual fluxe of their Atomes or to some other like reasoÌ„s the which we holde it not amisse to discouer and discipher at large as wee haue drawne them out of Ciccro Lib. de natur Dcorum Lib. 4. or of Lucrece All Images say they which doe externally present themselues vnto our senses either they are visible or inuisible If they be Inuisible The 1. Argument either they are created in the Ayre or in our owne mindes and conceites As touching those made in the Ayre It is not any straunge thing or abhorring from reason that in the same should be engendred certaine voyces like as wee see it is naturall that colde commeth from the Riuers ebbing and flowing from the Sea and heate from the Sunne And it may bee that some voyce being spred abroad within the vallies doth not only rebound back againe to the place from whence it came but doth dilate and scatter it selfe here and there throughout the Ayre as do the sparks that mount vp from the fire So that for one voyce there are many engendred which ruÌ„ning through the empty Ayre do enter within the eares of those that knew nothing of the naturall voyce and doe put them into a misconceit and fond opinion that they haue heard either some of the Fayries or Satyres or Nymphes playing and sporting amiddest the woods As concerning those Their 2. Argument that are bred in the minde They say Atomes signis fie motes in the Sunne or things so small as cannot bee deuided that for the innumerable course of Atomes all whatsoeuer wee doe dreame or thinke of commeth incontinently into the spirit or minde and sometimes passeth by visions and Images into the bodily eyes But if the Images be visible either they are â—euerberated and beaten back from the Chrystall and transparent Ayre exceeding cleere in her superficies or they come of the Spoyles and Scales of naturall thinges Their 3. Argument Touching the Ayre That it may of it selfe cast some kinde of Image hauing power to appeare they proue it in this sort Al Aire that is Chrystalline or transparent hath a kind of refraction as appeareth by the mirrour whereof looking Glasses are made and polished and by the water and by a thicke and darkened Ayre And this do the Catoptickes themselues teach in their principles Catoptikes are professors of the Optikes or Arte Speculatiue Now by the comparison and similitude of the mirror and the water all Ayre which hath a refraction doth of it selfe yeeld some certaine forme And therefore it is not any thing strange if in an Ayre a man may see certaine formes and Images And they do bring also this comparison Euen as the Tapistrie hangings in a Theater or a large wide hall do cast abroad round about their naturall colour where they finde an Ayre opposed against them and the more that the beames of the Sunne do beate or shine vpon them the more bright and shining luster they carry with them seeme to haue cast off and left their colour in the same place which is directly in opposition against them So is it most certaine that the Ayre may of it selfe cast abroad certaine formes and figures the which looke by how much the more they be made cleere by the light which doth bring and tye them to our obiect so much the more comprehensible shall they bee vnto our sight In briefe concerning the spoyles and scales cast from naturall things of which in their opinion Their 4. Argument Images should be engendred They do make this ArgumeÌ„t The Caterpillers say they do leaue their spoiles in the hedges or bushes like vnto theÌ„selues so do the SerpeÌ„ts among the thornes or stones and the little creatures at the time of their birth do leaue behinde them their after burthen which is a little thinne and slender skin which they bring with them from their dammes belly Why therfore may there not be left or cast from the bo dies of natural things certaine thinne subtill forms or Images proceeding from them aswel as a little skin and the after burthen doth remaine of the superfluitie of little creatures But all these Arguments may verie easily be dissolued Answere to their 1. argument The voyce defined what it is And first as touching the voyces which they say may simply be created of the Ayre I will not deny that For it is most certaine that the voyce is a certaine beating and concussion of the Ayre which falleth vnder the sense of hearing as is affirmed by the Grammarians And the matter of the voyce as sayth Galen is the breath Lib. de Voce and respiration of the Lungs but the forme thereof is the Ayre without the which neither can it be vnderstood nor can it bee called a voyce Besides I will not deny but that the sounds are raysed within the emptie Ayre bee it either by the windes or by some other externall cause But to say that the voyces and the sounds are naturall and adherent to the Aire as the Tide to the Sea and coldnes to the Riuers and heat to the Sun It would theÌ„ follow that without any externall cause at all both the voyce and the senses should bee created in the Aire should perpetually adhere vnto the Ayre as the Tide doth to the Sea and cold to the waters and heat vnto the Sun But so it is that the winds are not alwaies in the Ayre and the sounds and voyces are externall thinges comming into the Ayre by the meanes of some other subiect the which is nothing so neither in the Sea nor in the Riuers nor in the Sunne because that in the Seas the Tide and cold in the waters and heate in the Sun are vnseparably and continually And there is great difference betweene Accidents that are Separable and those that are Inseparable For the separable Accident as the Voyces and the Soundes in the Ayre may bee abstracted and drawne from the substance of the Ayre and yet the Ayre shall neither perish nor be the sooner altered thereby But ebbing and flowing cannot bee taken from the Sea but the nature thereof must needs bee chaunged Nor
dreams and fancies of the Epicures may be soone answered and easily dissolued Wee will now therefore consider what the Peripatetickes both ancient and moderne do alledge to impugne all Apparitions against nature CAP. IIII. Of the Opinions and Arguments of the Peripatetikes by which they would impugne the Apparitions of Spirites THe first of the Peripatetikes that I wil haue to deale withall The opinion and argumeÌ„ts of Al. Aphrodiseus that denyed the esseÌ„ce of Spirits shall be Alexander Aphrodiseus who contrary to the opinion of all others euen of his own Sect that went before him doth altogether and absolutely deny the essence and being of Spirites therein contradicting euen Aristotle himselfe the Prince of that Sect to whome also hee endeuoured to ascribe that errour of his by interpreting him after his owne fancy in those places where he writeth of Diuels and Spirites as amongst others in that of the Metaphisikes where he sayth That the Earth Li. 4. Metaphi the Fire and the Water are Substances as also all those bodies that come and are engendred of them as the Diuels and all liuing creatures and their parties This place of Aristotle is the most cleere and manifest that may be And yet neuerthelesse Alexander Aphrodiseus expounding it saith That either Aristotle did followe the common opinion of the vulgar sort who falsly and erroneously maintained the beeing of Spirits and Diuels or did vnderstand here by Diuels the Diuine bodies and the Starres But both the one and the other Interpretation is of no value For first Aristotle speaking of the first principles Answer to the argument of A. Aphiodiseus and of the beeing of each kinde of Substance did entend to verifie and affirme the whole by demonstrations and reasons euen from nature it selfe And it is not credible that hee would strengthen and confirme some of them by true and infallible Axiomes of nature as The Fire the Water the Earth other liuing creatures and that other some of them he should grouÌ„d maintaine vpon the common opinion as namely The being of Diuels and Spirites Howbeit he was deceiued in saying that they were engendred of the Elementes But this is no place to reprehend him for that opinion Againe who tolde Aphrodiseus that Aristotle by Diuels should vnderstand the Starres or the diuine bodies Is not this to belye the Authour who me hee interpreteth in making him to say that which he neuer meant For if Aristotle did vnderstand the Starres by the word Diuels then must it needes follow by his speech that the Starres should be engendred of the Elements But the Starres in the Firmament aboue cannot bee engendred of the Elementes beneath either therefore must Aristotle bee deceiued or which is more likely he meant not the starres as Aphrodiseus would make vs beleeue but by the worde Demones he vnderstoode simplie and plainely the Diuels But come wee to Auerrois Of the opinion of Auerrois the Peripatetike touching Spirits who being as notorious an Atheist as any of them yet was a little more scrupulous in the expounding of Aristotle then was Aphrodiseus For though hee beleeued no more then the former that there were any Spirits yet when hee came to explane that place of Aristotle hee thought it his best part to be altogether silent because he would not bewray his ignorance by saying nothing that should bee repugnant to the Doctrine of his Author whome hee interpreted And yet for all that how did he interpret or rather peruert the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is in the Text of Aristotle That which all the Auncients took interpreted for spirits he turned termed Idols whereas it is to be seene in Homer that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth Spirits and a Specter But the truth is he was nor ignorant of Aristotle his meaning which ought to haue made him ashamed and did indeede secretly reproue him as one that was a bad obseruer of his owne Religion for by profession hee was a Mahumetist and the Mahometistes doe confesse and beleeue that there are both Diuels and Spirites The same Auerrois to rid himselse altogether from all arguments that might be made against him touching the Apparition of spirits forasmuch as he knewe well that fewe doubted of their essence and beeing and that many testimonies of men worthy of credite did acknowledge no lesse he would not directly deny them knowing full wel that he should fall into a most grosse errour in Philosophie which doth alwayes presume that after the question 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That a thing is It necessarily followeth to bee enquired 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What it is and in vaine should any one demaund what a Specter is if it bee not first presupposed that there are Specters Hee confessed therefore that Specters doe appeare but hee denyed that they were a Substance and saide Auerrois did confesse the Apparition of Spirits but denyed them to be Substances That a Specter was onely a Phantosme imagined in the minde and thence carried to the outwarde Senses by the great contemplation of men that were Melancholike and giuen to Speculation whose vnderstanding hee affirmed to bee sounde and entire but onely the operation thereof was wounded and offended for a season But it shall not bee amisse to set downe somewhat at large that which hee saith touching this matter The ArgumeÌ„t of Auerrois to proue that Specters are not a Substancer but an imagined phantâ—â—me When the minde sayeth hee which is alwayes attending on the Imagination doth receiue in imagining any formes of diuels or dead men either in sound or in qualitie in odour or in touching And that this Imagination is transferred vnto the Sense correspondent to his proper action as the odours doe referre themselues to the particular Instrument of smelling and that which is heard to the Eares and the Specters to the Eyes then shall any man thinke that he seeth heareth or smelleth something without that any obiect doth truly present it self to the sight to the hearing or smelling And as touching the sense of seeing although it be so that the vision be no other thing then a perceiuing of some shape which is made within the liuely chrystall of the eyes which wee call the Ball or Apple of the eye Certainely whether it bee so that some obiect doth present it selfe to the sight or not but is onely imagined yet it appeareth that the partie doth perfectly and assuredly see something And so likewise euen in wakening it happeneth that some see Diuels and dead men and sometimes they suppose that they heare the voyce of them whoÌ„ they once knew and that they smell certaine sents and perfumes yea more then that that many times they doe feele and touch such things as appeareth by those which are troubled with the Inoubae and Succubae or the Nightmare How beit these imagined formes are more seldome and rarely seene then they are either heard smelt or touched because that in
all the other senses saue in the sight only it is not needefull to obserue any more then one onely difference And therefore one onely Spirit transferred vnto the sense together with the thing that is imagined will very easily represent the same But to the eyes there are many differences necessarie as the greatnes the forme the colour and therefore it must bee of necessitie that many Spirites be transferred thereunto Besides those Sinewes that appertaine to the eyes nature hath made them hollow And they only of all the other senses are so because they haue need of many spirits in their operations And it happeneth that wee are sooner wearied in looking and beholding atteÌ„tiuely vpon any thing then we are in the vsing and exercising of any other of the bodily senses whatsoeuer Thus you see the very wordes and reasons which Auerrois vseth Answere to the Argument of Auerrois in confirmation of his opinion To the which it is easie to answere by saying that the great Imagination of men being bent and set vpon any thing by earnest speculation may well alter and hurt a little the operation and force of the minde and vnderstanding But that the same can make or cause a man to see any Specters of a mouing and a liuing nature and more then so to touch to heare or to smell any thing of a vaine and phantasmaticall nature vnlesse the same happen by the operation of the Diuell and that also very extraordinarily This shall not Auerrois make me to beleeue For it was neuer yet seene heard nor approued that such a thing could befall in the course of nature except it were onely to such men as had their senses so decayed and perished their imaginatiue powers so weakened and corrupted as the vnderstanding did therby rest not onely hindred in his operation but altogether dulled and darkened In Libro de Somno Vigilia And well saith Aristotle that it must of necessitie be a great and strange passion when in waking the sense is so peruerted that it suffereth it selfe to be guided and moued by the same Nay let it be that this melancholie where of Auerrois speaketh be not a passion but a verie naturall and sound imagination whereunto they which be of a melancholike humor and the wise Philosophers are subiect who as Aristophanes in one of his Comedies writeth of them doe scale or clime the heauens and doe flye aboue the Sunne by their liuely contemplation yet neuerthelesse for all that they do not any thing the sooner either see or heare smell or touch any Specters Howsoeuer sometimes they may haue their mindes so subiect to the Imagination that they remaine as men astonished and vnmoueable But it is not necessarie that all whatsoeuer one imagineth by the senses should incontinently fall into them sensibly And there is a very great difference in the Imagination which is internall and the Action of the senses which are externall And yet I will easily agree to that saying of Aristotle That naturally De Somno et Vigilia euen in the souÌ„dest men when they sleepe the senses doe seeme to moue themselues by a locall motion of the humors and of the blood that descendeth euen to the Organs which are sensitiue and apprehensiue in such sorte that beeing wakened they thinke they see those very formes and Images which they dreamed of And this happeneth often to yong persons who of a sudden are so frighted that they thinke they see many vaine Images and figures that for very feare they hide themselues vnder the couerings of their beddes But such feares doe not last nor continue long but as soone as the partie is throughly and wel wakened they do vanish away from the fantasie which had before apprehended and receiued them vainely and falsely The opinion reasons of Cassius the Epicure touching Spirits and Specters that they are but an Imaginâ—tion proceeding of me lancholy or of the senses deâ—ceiued And this may serue very well to refute that discourse of Cassius the Epicure who would needes perswade Brutus his Companion as Plutareh writeth that the Specter which he sawe with his bodily eyes not in sleeping but in waking was but a false Imagination The reasons by which hee went about to perswade Brutus hereunto were these Our opinion quoth hee O Brutus is that we doe not endure passiuely all things that seeme so neither doe wee in truth and veritie see them Pluâ—n Vit. Bru. but onely by a false perswasion of our senses which are mutable and deceiuable Moreouer our Imagination is sharpe prompt and of a liuely disposition to moue our senses and to make or build any forme vpoÌ„ a subiect which in truth shal be none at all For the Imagination is like vnto waxe and is very facile ready to the mind of man which doth faine vnto it selfe al things and doth varie and compose in it selfe one and the same thing diuersly as is euident by the often chaunges of Dreames which in a very short moment the fantasie doth turne and alter into diuers kindes of formes and shapes To be in continuall motion is a thing not abhorring from the nature of the minde of man now the motion thereof is but a certaine fantasie or a kinde of intelligence And as touching thy selfe O Brutus thou art of a Melancholike nature which is the cause that thy vnderstanding is alwayes diuerted and lifted vp to contemplation And as concerning the Diuels or Spirites it is verie credible that there are at all or if there be any they haue not any humane forme neither haue they avoyce nor any such power as may pierce and come neere vnto vs. Thus you see what was the opinion of Cassius touching Specters and how in the end of his discourse hee setteth it downe verie doubtfully whether there were any Spirits and Diuels or not And yet hee is more Religious then are either the Epicures or the Peripatetikes who deny them altogether But as concerning that which hee saith of the Imagination and of the false perswasion of the senses hee declareth sufficiently that hee would not that a man should beleeue himself seeing ee will not beleeue that which hee seeth certainly with his eyes how beit the sight be one of the most certaine senses that a man hath which of al the others is least deceiued And hereby sheweth plainly that he was of the opinion of the Sceptikes who affirmed that the senses were false and deceiuable But leauing Cassius and Auerrois The opinion of Galen touching Specters let vs next come to Galen who was of another opinion and different from them for he did not refer Specters to the falsitie deceiuablenes of the senses and Imagination or to melancholy as did Cassius and Auerrois but rather to the subtiltie of the sight the smelling and the hearing by the which hee saide that men did perswade themselues of many vaine formes and Images And to this purpose I haue
soundest and best part of men did hold and maintain And amongst other things he did ever shew a minde and disposition in the greatest part of his bookes to call in doubt and question the apparition of Specters In the which notwithstanding he doth mervelously repugne and contrary himselfe not knowing if there were any specters or if there were none somtimes alledging the authority of Psellus sometimes that of Facius Cardanus his owne father Both which did constantly maintaine the Specters and Apparitions of divells and especially Facius Cardanus who had not onely one spirit and familiar but seaven all at one time which did reveale vnto him and acquaint him plainely with many strange and goodly mervailes and sometimes affirming that all whatsoever was spoken and reported of the Apparition of spirits and Specters was nothing else but ieasts tales and leasings But this shall suffice for the discussing of Cardan his reasons and opinions Let vs now therefore proceede to refute the opinion of those which affirme that the Angells and divells cannot take vpon them a body like vnto this of ours CHAP. V. Of the Arguments of those which deny that the Angells and Divells can take vnto them a Bodie THey which doe deny that the Angells and divells can take vnto them a body do not ayme at the marke to deny their essence as do the Saduces but they doe it onely to disprove and impugne their Apparition For it is a good consequent If the Angells and divells take not vpon them any body then can they not appeare And if one should reply vnto them and say That in our spirit and vnderstanding the Angells and divells may give some shew and token of their presence To this they have their exception readie That things spirituall and intelligible and all sorts of intelligences doe represent themselves by things that are sensible Wee will see therefore by what reasons they indevour to proove First objection to proove that Angells and divells cannot take vnto them a body that an Angell or a divell cannot take a body vnto them No body say they can be vnited to an incorporall substance but onely that it may have an essence and a motion by the meanes of that substance But the Angells and diuells cannot have a body vnited in regard of any essence for in so doing we must conclude that their bodies should be naturally vnited vnto them which is altogither vntrue and therefore it remayneth that they cannot be vnited vnto a bodie but onely in regard of the motion which is a reason of no sufficiencie for the approving of their opinion For thereof would follow an absurditie in regarde of the Angels to wit That they might take all those bodies that are moved by them which is a verie great and grosse errour For the Angell did move the tongue of Balaams Asse and yet he entred not in his tongue And therefore it cannot be said that an Angell or a Divell can take a bodie vnto them Answere to the first Argument or obiection To this Argument I answere That true it is that an Angell and a Divell cannot to speake properly take vnto them every bodie that is moved For to take a bodie signifieth to adhere vnto the bodie Now the Angels and the Divels do take vnto them a bodie not to vnite it to their nature and to incorporate it together with their essence as hee that taketh any kinde of meate for sustenance much lesse to vnite the same to their person as the sonne of God tooke vpon him the humane nature But they doe it onely that they may visibly represent themselves vnto the sight of men And in this sort the Angels Divels are said to take a bodie such as is apt fit for their apparition Cap. 15. calest Hierachiae as appeareth by the authoritie of Denys Ariopagyte who writeth that by the corporal forms the properties of Angels are knowne and discerned The second Argument Againe they say That if the Angels and Divels doe take a bodie it is not for any necessitie that they have but onely to instruct and exhort vs to live well as do the Angels or to deceive and destroy vs as do the Divels Now both to the one and the other the imaginarie vision or the tentation is sufficient and therefore it seemeth that it is not needfull they should take veto them any bodie Answer to the second Argument I answere that not onely the imaginarie vision of Angels is necessary for our instruction but that also which is corporall and bodily as we shall show anone when we intreate of the Apparition of Angels And as concerning the Divels God doth permit them both visibly and invisibly to tempt vs some to their salvation and some to their damnation Moreover they thus argue The third Argument Li. 3. ca. 11. 12. That God appeared vnto the Patriarchs as is to be seene in the old Testament and the good Angels likewise as Saint Augustine proveth in his Bookes of the Trimitie Now wee may not say that God tooke vpon him any body except onely in that mysterie of his Incarnation And therefore it is needlesse to affirme that the Angels which appeare vnto men may take vpon them a bodie Answer to their third Argument I answere as doth Saint Augustine who sayth That all the apparitions which were in the olde Testament were made by the ministerie of Angels who formed and shaped vnto themselves certaine shapes and figures imaginarie and corporall by which they might reduce and drawe vnto God the soule and spirite of him that sawe them as it is possible that by figures which are sensible men may be drawne and lifted vp in spirit and contemplation vnto God And therefore wee may well say that the Angels did take vnto them a bodie when they appeared in such apparitions But now God is sayde to have appeared because God was the butte and marke whervnto by vision of those bodies the Angels did endevour and seeke to lift vp vnto God the soules of men And this is the cause that the Scripture sayth That in these Apparitions sometimes God appeared and sometimes the Angels Their fourth Argument Furthermore they make this obiection Like as it is agreeing naturally to the soule to be vnited to the bodie so not to be vnited vnto a bodie is proper and naturall vnto the Angels and Divels Now the soule cannot bee separated from the bodie when it will Therefore the Angels and Divels also cannot take vnto them a bodie when they will For answere whereof I confesse that everie thing borne and ingendred hath not any power over his being Answer to their fourth Argument for all the power of any thing floweth from the essence thereof or presupposeth an essence And because the soule by reason of her being is vnited vnto the body as the forme thereof it is not in her puissance to deliver herselfe from the vnion of
thing and in working man in it which is proper vnto God onely Howbeit that God doth not make a part in the essence of any thing For God is a substance seperated and abstracted solely and onely in it selfe And for the further interpretation of Saint Ierome and the Glose which say That the divell is not in images wee may affirme that they do privily and closely reprehend the false opinion of the Paynims and Idolaters who made but one thing of the Idoll were it of wood brasse or stone and of the vncleane spirit that remained within it and by that meanes would have made a living substance of that which in it owne nature was sencelesse and without life not having eyther hands to touch withall or feete to goe on or tongue to speake with except such onely as the divell did seeme to give vnto it by his deceitfull illusions Their fourteenth Argument To make short they obiect this argument also If the Angells and divells do take to them any body eyther they are vnited vnto The whole body or to some Part thereof If they be vnited onely to a Part thereof then can they not moove the other part but onely by the meanes of that part which they do moove But this cannot possibly be for otherwise the body assumed should have such parts as should have the Organs determined to the motion which is proper to none but living bodies But if the Angells and divells be Vnited immediately to the whole body it behooveth them then also to possesse everie part of that body which they have taken to them and so by that meanes they should be in many places which is proper and appertaining to God onely And therefore the Angells and divells cannot take any body vnto them Answer to their fourteenth Argument To this argument answer may be made in this manner That the Angell or divell so taking any body vpon him is wholy in the whole body which it assumeth or else in a part thereof as the soule is in the body For albeit he be not the forme of the body which it assumeth as is the soule yet so it is that he is the moover thereof Now it behooveth that the moover and the thing mooved should be together And it is nothing to the purpose to say that an Angell or divell filling a body whole and entyre of substance can be in divers places for the whole body assumed by an Angell or divell is not but in one place onely albeit the same be admitted to have many members and many parts Thus farre have I done my best both to set downe and to refute all the reasons and arguments obiected by those who deny that Angells and divells can assume and take vnto them a body to the intent that from hence forth their mouths might be stopped and that they may not esteeme as fables the histories of Specters and of the Apparitions of spirits Of the opinion of the Iewish Rabbins touching the Apparitions mentioned in the old Testament But before I come to conclude this discourse I may not forget to tell you how that many of the Rabbins and Iewes which have taken vpon them to interpret the holy Scriptures have held opinion and beene of the beliefe that those Angells which appeared to the Patriarkes and Prophets did not appeare in any body nor did assume vnto them any body to make themselves visible And of this opinion amongst others was Rabbi Moses one of the most learned Rabbins of the Iewes who said That all that which is read and recorded in the olde Testament of the Apparition of Angells did come by an imaginarie vision that is to say sometimes in sleeping and sometimes in waking But this position as Saint Thomas of Aquin calleth it The Aquin quest de Miracalis Arti. 7. cannot prevaile against the truth of the Scriptures for by the phrase and manner of speeches which are vsuall in the bookes of the old Testament it is easie to know and discerne a difference that which is signified and declared to have Appeared purely and simply to our eyes from that which is said to bee done by the meanes of a Propheticall vision For when it ought to be vnderstoodâ— that any Apparition was made by way of vision there are some words put downe and insert which doe properly appertaine to the vision such as the Scriptures do intend as in Ezechiel Ezechiel ce 8. the spirit of the Lord saith he lifted me vp betweene the heaven and the earth led me into Ierusalem by the visions of the Lord. I say therefore that when it appeareth that things are said to be done simply wee ought to vnderstand them as done simply and truly Now we reade in the old Testament that many Apparitions have beene made in body And therefore we ought to grant that the Angells do sometimes assume and take vnto them a body in forming such a body as is sensible and subiect to the externall and corporall vision as well as some kinde of shapes do forme themselves in our imagination which do produce an imaginative vision when wee are sleeping But this shall suffice touching this matter Let vs come therefore to the Sceptiques whose manner is to doubt of all things and do make a question whether our senses be true or not CHAP. VI. Of the opinions of the followers of Pirrhon Sceptiques and Aporretiques and what they alleadge to shew that the humane senses and the imaginative power of man are false HAving fully and amply satisfied those that deny the being of Angells and divells and the Apparitions of Specters Now remaineth to bee handled the last point that wee promised to speake of to wit Whether that which we doe perceive by our externall and outward senses sound and not corrupted or that which our imaginative faculty apprehendeth in working be false and not considerable And although this point doth not almost deserve to have any place in this Discourse by reason that the opinion of all men hath in all ages condemned such as have held nothing to be true and certaine of that which commeth and falleth vnder the senses Yet that we may make them to see at this day the errour and incredulitie of some mad-headed and braine-sicke Philosophers of former times like vnto our Atheists and Libertines at this day I was the more willing to set downe thereasons which mooved them to thinke That the truth of each thing was hidden from vs and that nothing could be comprehended but that which is false and vntrue But you must vnderstand that the source and first originall of this error came from Socrates who saide That he knew not any thing save this one thing onely The opinion and saying of Socrates to wit that he knew nothing But therein he was repugnant to himselfe for seeing that he knew some thing he shewed that he had at the least a certaine science and knowledge of that one thing And in saying
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
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
man and Atheist doth in no sort beleeve that there are either good or evill spirits nor doth apprehend those thinges that are supernaturall So the superstitious person is 〈◊〉 too soone drawne into lightnesse of beliefe and by reason of the feare which he hath of evill spirits He faineth vnto himselfe a thousand foolish and idle fancies and toyes in his braine And therefore not without good cause is superstition named by the Greekes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of the feare of divells which both Proclus Plato Porphirye Iamblicus Dion Lucian Zeleucus apuâ— stobaeum sermone de legibus Mali Genii in quit a superstitiosis metuuntur and other Antients do call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Also those which are attached with this fault and imperfection doe make themselves beleeve that they have seene visions which indeede they have not seene And sometimes an excessive feare of spirits will seaze and take hold vpon them in such a manner that in the dead and darke horror of the night they will crosse and marke themselves a thousand times as if they did see some strange and fearefull sight and they will abhorre to heare any talke of Divelles and doe never sleepe nor rest in quiet still imagining that a thousand Phantosmes do flie vp and down round about them Of young children De somnâ— vigilia Next after those that bee superstitious come young children who as Aristotle saieth are subiect to this humour that they perswade themselves they see visions of Specters and Apparitions in the night though indeede they see nothing And most commonly they will be so afraide when they awake out of their sleepe by meanes of the sodaine emotion of the humours and of the blood descending into the sensitive organs that neither more nor lesse than as if they had some suffusion of their eyes they wil think they have seene some Specters or strange sights presented to them which for very feare wil make them to cover hide themselves close vnder the cloths of their bed And how can it be but that children should perswade themselves of such foolish imaginations and apprehensions in the night seeing that even in the verie day time a man may make them to beleeve things meerely false as if they were true and certaine Againe we see that sometimes they will fall into such a feare as they will be ready to swound and will crie out in their sleepe by night when they doe but call to their remembraunce the feare which they have had in the day time and which is more they will grow to have the Falling-sicknesse as I have noted in Hippocrates I have read in Lavater how in his Countrie of Switzerland De sacro morbâ— De Spectris at a câ—rtaine time of the yeere there were some that vsed to disguise and maske themselves in horrible vizards like vnto divells onely with an intention to terrifie the little children that were given to be fearefully conceited and they do make them beleeve that they had seene some warre-woolves fayries or night-night-spirits and such like And the same which Lavater saith was vsuall in his Countrey is no more then is seene in France where mummeries are very common and vsuall in divers Townes in the forme and habite of spirits and divells As touching such mummeries I cannot observe any one more ridiculous then that maske oâ— monstrous image which in a certaine Towne of this Realme which heere shall be namelesse is every yeere carried about with great solemnitie vpon their festivall daies It hath a great face and vifage infinitely broad and large with long and sharpe teeth and is for that cause called The olde woman with the great teeth But in my iudgement this is a meere idolatry taken from the Paynims and Gentiles who had also their Mandurâ—â—s which as â—ostus saith was a great maske or monstrous picture vsually carried about in the Procession of their gods and left not to moove the chaps grinde the teeth But either of those were in vented as I take it to give cause of laughter to such as were sad and pensive and to terrifie little children At Lyons also in France they have their Macheoronste little or nothing differiug from the Mandurus of the Gentiles which they vse likewise to carrie about the Cittie in great pompe and triumph The Antients as I have observed out of Ausonim had certaine such maskes or vgly pictures with three or foure squares which on what side soever they were changed and turned had the figure of a man not without great admiration to the most advised and assured and no lesse to the fearing and terrifying of little children Those maskes in Latine are called Oscilla and in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if a man should say litle mouthed images Osâ—illa signifieth faces moving the chaps or mouth in deformed maner like vizards in a mummery and they were purposely borne hanging in little streamers or banneâ—s which they vsed to shake and moove to and fro and they might plainely be discerned in the end to have the humane shape and forme though in the agitation and stirring of them a man would have iudged that they had a thousand faces and countenances I have seene such kindes of maskes or pictures in the possession of Maister Gaiffier an advocate in the Court of Parliament who was a great lover of Antiquities and one of my very good and deare friends Of aged persons and that they are much subiect to feare c. Next after infants and little children come the aged and decrepite old persons of whom the naturall humor and moisture is well-neere spent and consumed and their braine is become to bee in a manner wasted and dryed vp by reason of their yeeres To these kinde of folkes it is naturally proper to doate and to be idly conceited and as Aristophanes saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to divine and prophecie after the manner of the Sibills and as being bereaved of their wits and senses Moreover olde age is very apt to faine vnto it selfe specters and apparitions either by reason that the braine is offended or through the weakenesse and imbecillitie of the senses or by meanes of some other such discommodities and inconveniences as old age vsually bringeth with it And God he knoweth that when old folkes men or women doe grow to bee as it were children againe which the Latines doâ— terme Repuerascere they beâ— more childish then very children according to the Greeke proverbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 insomuch as they will not sticke to affiâ—me with all the oathes of the world things that never were and which they never knew And if you would assay to plucke out of their heads the opinion which they have once conceived of specters and visions you should but loose your labour as in attempting a thing vnpossible Ierome Cardan rehearseth Lib de
is to say And if the superstitious person do happen to soe a maddâ— man or any other person taken with the falling sickenesse heâ— will spâ—t in his bosome quaking for very feare And it is well woorthy the marking which Theophrastus writeth For the Annents as Hippocrates reporteth thought all those which were taken with the Epilepsie or falling sicknesse De morbo sacro de morbis Virginum and such also as were furious or fallen mad to be seized and possessed with divells and evill spirites which diddo torment them And that was the cause that such as sawe them in that passion or distemper did spet vppon their breasts or bosomes for feare lest some inconvenience might befall to them by meanes thereof There were moreover other kindes of charmes and enchaunâ—â—ents of the eies Of charmes called Prestigies which the Latines called Prestigies the which also are no more naturall than those former For these Prestigies do so charme and bewitch our eyes that it seemeth vnto vs we see marvellous things and which doe exceede beyond all nature Howbeit in very deede the same be nothing else but a meere trumpery and deceipt of the divell by the which notwithstanding we doe not perceive our selves to be any otherwise offended but in this onely that our sight is thereby somewhat altered and charmed And in this sorte Apuleius writeth that himselfe fawe a Iuggler Lib. 1. de Asino corâ—â— who by Art Magicke did seeme to eate and swallow vp a sword and to thrust it through his owne body Lib. 34. histor And the like as Diâ—dorus Siâ—â—â—â— reporteth did the slave Eâ—â—â— in the country of Sicilâ—â—s at such 〈…〉 surped a tyrannicall power over that Island by the meanes and helpe of his Prestigies For the other slaves whome hee endevoured to drawe in his line to make a partic with him and to rebell against their maisters did hold and esteeme him to be more than a mortall man because as often as him listed hee woulde cast foorth of his mouth flames of fire and woulde doe many other such like marvellous deeds and that altogether and onely by Arte magicke So doe Atheneus and Eustatius recount how Cratistenes was so excellent a Magitian that hee could not onely charme the eyes Libr. 8. Dipnos In lib. 4. Odyss but that hee could also alter and change the very fantasie of men And to that purpose I could heere alleadge and cite the histories of many others the like Impostors and Deceivers as namely Simon Magus Apollonius Iamblicus Maximus Sopater Sosipatra and infinite other whom I will reserve to another place to be spoken of more and better to the purpose Of the representation of persons shewed by Magicians to boyes in a glasse vvhether they be ilusions or not Prestigies vvhat they are But what shall we say to that which little children or boyes vse to see within the mirrours or glasses shewed vnto them by Magicians shall wee call them also Prestigies Iâ— seemeth not For the Prestigies are only phantosâ—ce and images of things which are not and howsoever it be they are true and entire deceipts or illusions leasings and impostures of the divell who by the subtiltie of his nature causeth the sight of things marvellous and supernaturall And for this cause those common Iugâ—â—ers and Impostors of whome hee serveth himselfe to 〈◊〉 â—â—use his sportes of Passe and Repasse are named in proper worde by the He brewes Chartumim that is Prestigiâ—tors or Deceivers who do make strange wonders â—nâ—â—iâ—ocles to appeere in sight to the eyes of men onely by their subtilue or by the craft and subtiâ—â— of the divell for so dooth Rabbs Levi affirme of them nowe the Magitians boyes doe see lively and naturally represented senced 〈◊〉 theâ—â— the figure of some thiâ—fâ— and they doe maâ—â—e him distanctly within the glasse of the â—iâ—tor so that to call this a Prestigie or Imposture would seeme at the first shew to have no shew not appearance of reason Notwithstanding seeing that all this proceedeth of the divell and seeing it is vnpossible that the sâ—â—ide and absent body of the thiefe them appearing should be abiding in the glasse That the sight shevved vnto children by Magicians in a glasse are meer illusions diabolicall impostures I may well say That the same is nothing else but a meere witchcraft or imposture of the Divell which charmeth by his illusions the eyes of the nailes the picture and image of the thiefe And neverthelesse though this be but a woorke of the Divell and dooth altogether exceede the power and course of nature yet there have biâ— some Philosophers who have revoked the same vnto the effectes of nature Opinions of Philosophers that such sights are naturall Apollog 1. and have attributed it vnto the impollution and purenesse of the soule of the childe that seeth the figure of the thiefe so represented For Apuleius who was one of the greatest Magicians of his time after hee had spoken in his Apologie of many children who had seene and prophened or foretolde wonders in the end hâ—â— addeth Hee aliâ— de pueris logo equidem sed dubâ—us sententiae sum diâ—â—â— fieri an posse negem Quanquam Platoni crodâ—â—m inter dâ—â—â— at que homines natura â—oâ— maâ—as quasdom Diâ—â—â—â— potestates intersitas â—ásphs diâ—in atiâ—es cunctâ—s uâ—râ—oula Magorum gubernare Quin â—hod 〈◊〉 posse 〈◊〉 bummum pâ—â—erilem presartim suâ—plinâ—â—qur se◠〈…〉 sive adorum deliniâ—â—to saperurâ— ad oblivionem prasentinmaxâ—â—rnari 〈…〉 â—â—pariâ—â—â—â— movis redigiâ—c redere ad 〈…〉 immortulis scilicet ac divinâ— aâ—â—pâ—â—◠〈◊〉 quodâ—â—â— supoâ—â— fâ—â—â— a â—â—â—rum prosagiâ—â— Of this a man may gather That Apâ—leius was in doubt whether the nature of the childe had the power to prophecie and sorâ— shew things 〈◊〉 whether the divell did suggest and ministen vnto him that which it tolâ—â—e and prophecied But 〈◊〉 Christian Philosopher and one that lived but a little in a manner before our time Opinion and reason of Pomponatius De Ineanâ—aâ—â—â—nibus dooth goe a great deale further and maketh not any doubt at all as did Apuleins but hee freely leapeth foorth and as a hardie Atheist he saieth roundly that this proceedeth of nothing else but nature alone and his woordes are these So great and powerfull saith hee is the strength and vertue of the Inchaunter that it passeth into the soule of the childe being vnpolluted as doth the vertue of the adamant pierce into the Iron For children are naturally prepared to receive impressions the soule of the childe being once moved or set in motion doth move his sensitive Spirites as they are mooved in a dreame and so by meanes of their subtilty they see many more things than others doe And therefore the childe may see the theefe naturally by reason of the puritie force subtiltie and agilitie of his spirits And seeing it is to be presupposed that the soule is immortall this is not
Antonie is written to have heard was but an impression in the soule of some signes and tokens which did foreshew and prognosticate some future evills which should afterwards befall and happen vnto them For even as saith he it happeneth in sleeping that a man taketh an impression in his minde of strange things that shall befall vnto him So in waking if a man be in a deepe muse and profound imagination hee shall take an impression into his soule by the force of the heavens of that which shal betide fal vnto him And a man shall imagine that he seeth and heareth as in a dreame that which dooth presage some future mishap and disaster to come Notwithstanding as we have bâ—fore said following the authoritie of Aristotle Answer to the former obiection there is not any imagination so strong and forcible that can so pervert the senses that they will suffer themselves to be guided or misâ—led thereby And as he saith well it may be that there may bee an exceeding great passion and such as is that De somno vigilia wherewith persons afflicted with an extreame fever vse to be touched who commonly doe imagine that they see images and figures in a wall albeit in truth and very deede they see nothing at all But that such men as are sound and well disposed should suffer themselves to be abused by the force of their imagination vnlesse it were by the Prestigies and illusions of Sathan or that they can possibly see whatsoever they do profoundly imagine is too too abhorring from any reason to be affirmed Or to make the heaven the cause thereof seemeth to proceede only for default of a more apparant or better reason to confirme it Better it were therefore as hath beene said to referre the cause of all this Of the means how the imaginative power and senses may be deceived in specters and phantosmes by the illusion of the divell Tome 2. Summe Saâ—rae Theolog quest 80. Arti. 2. to the working of the divells who as Saint Thomas of Aquin saâ—th may cause the same to proceede by the locall motion as well of the humane inferiour bodies as of the spirits and powers sensitive if they be not repressed by the divine powers and puissance For so it is that by the locall motion of the humours in sleepe there do present themselves divers sensible formes and figures as Aristotle saith caused through the aboundance of the blood that descendeth to the sensitive principles and there doe leave divers impressions of sensible motions the which do conferre and keepe themselves in the sensible Species or shapes and doe move the apprehension in such sort that they do appeare as if the sences outwardly did moove themselves So that it is not strange that the divel having power permitted him as is saide to moove the humours may also make and cause them waking to receive by the eies or other senses diverse imaginations figures voyces sounds and other things that see me very strange marvellous And this is the cause as Saint Angustine saith That there is not any of the corporall senses but the divell may possesse the same and vse it at his pleasure if God do so permit him Serpit hoc malum Diaboli saith this Doctour per omnes aditus sensuales dat se figuris accommodat se coloribus Lib. 18. Quest adharet sonis odoribus se subijcit infundit se saporibus quibusdam nebulis implet omnes meatus intelligentiae That is to say So mischievous is the divell that he creepeth throughout all the passages of the senses Hee adhereth vnto soundes he subiecteth and insinuateth himselfe into smelles and odours hee powreth himselfe into savours and hee filleth all the passages of the intelligence with certayne mistes and clowdes And by the same reason it happeneth also That the divell dooth cast himselfe also into the inward and interiour senses and into the fantasie of men and mooveth them in the same sorte as hee dooth the externall and by a certayne extasie and alienation of their spirites which hee causeth hee maketh diverse formes specters and phantosmes to appeare in their imaginations the which at such times as they awake from sleepe will so lively represent themselves to the externall senses that a man cannot be otherwise perswaded but that hee hath truly and indeede seene them albeit the same were but a pure illusion of the divell Of diabolical extasies happening to witches and sorcerers that they be not by the departing of the soule from the bodie for a season but onelie by illusion of the divell Now this dooth leade vs as it were by the hand to those discourses and reports of Witches and Sorcerers In whose fantasies and internall senses the divel dooth so well and cunningly imprint and fasten certaine Images and figures of things that the same doe afterwards convey themselves to their outward senses howbeit that they have neither seene nor heard the same but onelie in a kinde of dreame and diabolicall extasie For that the soule of the Sorcerer shoulde issue foorth and departs out of the body as some persons of this age have imagined is a thing that cannot in any sorte be appreoved and wee will easly refute and disproove the same by sufficient reason and authorities when time shall serve and that we come to speake of prodigious dreames But vpon the matter it shall nowe suffice 26 Quest â— cap. Episâ—op that the Councell of Ancyra according as is to be read in the Cannon Lawe hath determined that whatsoever the divelles doe instill into the spirites and mindes of Sorcerers and Sorceresses is not by any abstraction made of the soule out or from the body but onely by true and pure illusions fantosmes and deceptions making them beleeve that they ride I knowe not on what kinde of beastes with Dianâ— the goddesse of the Paynims and with Herodiade It appeareth also by the determination of the same Councell that the Sorcerers which see such things are seduced by the divell and through their infidelitie doe deserve to bee mis-led by those diabolicall illusions And this sheweth apparantly that the Sorcerers and Sorceresses doe never enter and fall into such kinds of extasies in the which they see diverse phantosmes that doe convey themselves to the externall senses at the time of their awaking except they have intelligence and confederation with the divell For otherwise the divell could never fasten his illusions so deepely in their imagination to make them believe that they had seen that in their body which they doe not see indeede but onely in spirite and imagination of the minde And I say this expresly to refute the opinion of some Phisitians of our time as namely Baptista de Porta a Neapolitane Opinion of Baptista de Porta and other Physitions refuted a tributing the extasies of Sor cerers to oynt ments c. who doe affirme and maintaine that the sleepes of Sorcerers replenished
by very Arâ— and cunning and by meanes of certaine candles and fumigations will cause as hath beene before touched that a chamber shall seeme to be full of serpents albeit in very truth there be nothing lesse then serpents in the chamber and onely the eyes are deceived and deluded In the same sort howsoever the divell doth represent vnder the true forme of a man some woolfe horse mule or some such other beast yet neverthelesse the man doth still abide and remaine the same that he was and hee is not either changed or transformed in any fashion whatsoever but onely in the imagination of the phantasie which is possessed and troubled by the divell And this both all the antient Doctours of the Church and all the generall Counsells have determined and agreed vppon And therefore I cannot but marvel that there should be any men so obstinately addicted and wilfully wedded to their opinions as to bring in and maintaine against all antiquitie and contrarie to the Canons a new kinde of heresie the which they goe about to proove onely by such authorities and examples as they do wrest and pervert to their owne sense and meaning wherein they doe something savour of the error of Manes the father of the Manichees Qui aliquid divinitatis aut numinis extra vnum Deum arbitrabatur who did hold that there was a kinde of divine power besides that of the one onely God For he said that there were two creators the one of things earthly and materiall the other of things celestiall which doth even iumpe with the opinion of those men For to make the divell to have such power as to change the bodie of man into another forme what other thing is it then to give and attribute vnto him that power and puissance as to create a new forme and thereinto give him a kinde of prerogative over the body of man which is a thing onely reserved vnto God alone the creator of all things both visible and invisible corporall and incorporall But this shall suffice as touching Sorcerers and that transmutation which they do maintaine of humane bodies into the bodie of some other creature The which in very deede neither is nor can be doone but onely in apparance as wee have oftentimes formerly repeated and onely by the phantasie and imagination corrupted and deluded by the prestigious deceipts and illusions of the divell How and in what sort the fantasie of meÌ„ is possessed deluded by the Divell Now that we may not wander from that which wee have in hand wee will heere shew howe and in what sort the phantasie also is possessed by the divell eyther at such time as the humors of the body are disposed fit for it or when the person hath bin bewitched enchanted or else by reason of some other secret vnknowne to men and reserved to the knowledge of God alone For as it is most certaine and assured that the braine of man is the â—eaâ—e of the imagination and the phantâ—sie and that by the same by meanes of the organs and instruments proper and fitted therevnto the conceptions of the soule are vttered and brought foorth So if the Divell doe once perceive that the braine is troubled or oftended by any maladies or infirmities which are particularly incident therevnto as the Epilepsie or Falling evil Madnesse Melancholy Lunatique fittes and other such like passions He presently taketh occasion to torment and trouble it the more And by the permission of God seizing himselfe of the same he dooth trouble the humours amaze and confound the senses captivateth the vnderstanding possesseth the fantasie darkneth and blindeth the powers of the soule and speaking through the organs of the body being then fitted and made apte to bring to light his own conceipts and devises he then commeth to shew himselfe in his kind speaketh strange languages telleth of things that are chaunced and come to passe in diverse partes of the worlde prophecieth of things to come although for the most part he be found a liar and in briefe he worketh such maâ—vells and wonders as no man can beleeve are possibly able to proceed from any body of a humane nature Opinion and reasons of Levinus Lemnius other Physitians who doe attribute to Nature the strange effects of persons possessed with Divells Levinus Lemnius his opinion of men possessed with spirites Lib. 2. cap. 2. collect de occult nat miraculis cui adde Cornelium Gemmam qui de miraculis naturae itidem librum composuit This notwithstanding some Physitians there be in our time who will needes reduce this as also all other things which be supernatural to the ordinary course and working of nature and they imagine that they can yeeld a reason for the same which being well searched dooth discover it selfe to be most vaine and frivolous and cannot any way in the worlde be maintained Amongest others Levimus Lemâ—â—us discoursing of the secrets of Nature and being to handle this poynt dooth marvellously sticke vppon the contemplation of humane nature and of the force of the naturall humours For these are his wordes There is saith he a certaine wonderfull force and vertue which doth stirre vp the humors and a certaine vehement heate dooth disturbe and moove the imaginative power at such time as the sicke persons in the extreame and burning heate of their fevers do speake and vtter foorth sometimes openly and with a kinde of eloquence and sometimes confusedly and as it wâ—r stuttering and stammering such languages as they never knewe nor learned And it is most sure that there be some humours so sharp and violent that when they come to be enflamed or corrupted so as their fuliginous excrements doe strike vppe to the braine they will make those that are surprized therewithall to stagger and stuner in their speech not vnlike those that are overcome with wine and will make them to chaâ—ter and talke in a straunge language Now if this didd proceede of any evill spirites then would not the infirmitie cease by the Arte of the Phisitian and by purgative medicines or other drugges applied to the patients causing them to sleepe For we see that ordinarily by such â—edicines they doe returne into their right mindes and into their accustomed manner of speaking And for proofe hereof Levinus dooth adde That himselfe hath healed some sicke persons who in the fitte of their fever have bin very eloquent even so farre as they have pronounced a speech as if iâ— had beene an Oration deepely studied and most accomplished in all respects and yet the parties in the time of their health were very rude persons and little better than ideots After all this he goeth forward and beginning to ground himselfe vpon on certaine reasons hee saieth As it is most certaine that the boyling and arising of the humours is marvellous and exceeding hote and ardent and the stirring and agitation of the sensitive spirits is very vehement and above all this the troubling and
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
had no other remedie to drive away this evill but the Harpe of David To make short Levinus himselfe is constrained to confesse That the humours are the principall cause of all maladies partaking of melancholy Lib. 2. cap. 1. de occult nat miraculis or of any fever But that the Divells the Starres the Qualitie of the ayre adioyning and other things externall do accompany them as accidents And therefore away with all these reasons of the Naturalists who because they will deny that there be any Divells doe attribute and yeelde more power vnto humane nature and to the Starres than to the Spirits that are supernaturall and above nature the which they can not comprehend to be by any means in essence because they doe too too much ground themselves vpon nature and do not acknowledge any thing above or beyond it Opinion of those that doe attribute all charmes and enchantments vnto the virtue of hearbs c. But some of them there be who passe yet further on and doe affirme that the charmes and enchauntments wherewith they do enchaunt and constraine men be it either to the loving of some woman or to hate her so as they cannot endure to dwell and abide with her do proceede from the vertue of hearbes or the starres or from the imagination troubled and corrupted rather than of any working or power of the Divell And they doe alleadge for their authoritie the Physitian Avicen Opinion of Avicen touching enchauntments who saith that Enchantments have not any effect or force in nature nor any vertue or power to change the health of any man or the state of his welfare into sickenes or infirmities And that they which are of opinion that there bee any enchaunted doe enchaunt themselves by the vehemencie of their imagination And these men doe alleadge that also which he afterwardes reciteth vaunting of himselfe For my part saith hee I make no account of any Sorcerer whatsoever neither doe I knowe any Enchaunter be hee never so cunning and expert in his Arte that can constraine me against my will to lift vp or to moove so much as my little finger And more than so I never knewe any that hath himselfe to be enchaunted but I have healed and delivered him from that imagination that hee hath beene enchaunted Vpon this authoritie do they relie vtterly reiecting and disallowing any Enchauntments to be wrought by meanes of Divells and consequently denying their essence and being Avicen his opinion confuted Neverthelesse for any thing saide by Avicen there are so many experiences to the contrary of such as have been inchaunted and bewitched that it were a poynt of too too great incredulitie to doubt of it And as touching that they say That charmes and enchantments doe not proceede of the vertne of hearbes c. That if there be any charmes and enchauntments in Nature the same proceedeth of the force of hearbes and of the influence of the starres rather than of any spirits Therein is no great apparance of any truth or veritie For if it were so it must needes followe that the wordes and speeches which Enchaunters and Sorcerers doe vtter shoulde not have any force nor efficacie But it hath beene a thing approoved by all Antiquitie that divers have beene enchaunted by wordes and speeches vttered which Lucan a very learned Poet and great Philosopher dooth testifie saying Mens hausti nulla sanie polluta veneni Excantata perit A man inchaunted runneth madde That never any poyson had I confes indeede that God hath given many properties vnto hearbes and vnto simples yea and those so admirable that they have the power and vertue not onely to preserve our humane bodies in health but also vtterly to overthrow and to bring it to confusion in such sort as if the same were enchanted Nevertheles that they should so worke vpon the body that the soule inwardly should feele the force and effect thereof it is not possible not to be beleeved except that together with the hearbes there be intermingled some charmes or wordes of enchantment And of this was not Ovid ignorant as appeareth by that which her speaketh of Medea saying Protinus horrendis infamia pabula succis Lib. 9. Mâ—tamory Conterit tritis Hecaetei a carmina miscet Then horride herbs hateful drugs together she doth bruse And in the bruising damned spels hellish charms doth vse And that of the learned Poet Virgil Miscueruntque herbas non innoxia verba Lib. 3. Georgic which is And therewithall they mingle sundria hearbs Ever and among vsing not harmelesse words But more plainely and manifestly doth Propertius recount how the Sorcerers doe give a force and power vnto their hearbs thereby to enchant and charme persons did vse to stirre and moove them in some ditch into the which they made some floud of raine or water to come Quippe Collinas ad fossam moverit herbas Stantia currenti diluerentur aqua Lib. 5. Elegiarum Within some ditch she stirs her hearbs which she had placed There with the running water to be washed Now Apuleius and other antient Authors have written that Sorcerers did vse to worke do their charmes in some ditch or pit And therefore Propertius in those verses bringing in a Sorceresse mooving and stirring her hearbes in a ditch what other thing doth he intend to shew but that together with the hearbs there were mingled also certaine charmes the which did give a force and vigour to the hearbs to worke wonders by the cooperation of the divell Furthermore Virgil doth recite yet other ceremonies which the Sorcerers vsed in gathering of their hearbes Lib. 4. Aeneid Falcibus lunae ad lumen quaeruntur adhenis Pubentes herbae nigri cum lacte veneni all which were nothing else but damnable superstitious and divelish inventions as to cut them in the night time by the light of the Moone-shine with a hooke of brasse which maketh me also to remember certaine observations of the Magitians and Sorcerers in times past in cutting of their hearb Elleborus Mandragoras and the herbe Panaceum whereof Theophrastus speaketh and derideth it as a foolish and vaine superstition Lib. 9. de historia herbarum cap. 9 and those also of the Druides amongest the antient Gaules who vsed without any knife or yron to plucke the hearbe which they called Selago and in gathering thereof they went alwayes clothed or apparrelled with a kinde of white surplisse with their feete bare and naked verie cleane and well washed and before that they gathered it their fashion was to consecrate bread and wine and after they had gathered it Lib. 24. cap. 11. to put the same into a faire white napkin as Plinie writeth of them That neither the vertue of hearbes nor the influence of the starres can worke or rule the affections of men to love or hatred Moreover it is a most grosse absurditie to affirme that the hearbes being
writeth that in the high mountaines of Marocco there be three Apples of Gold of an inestimable price and value the which are so wel and surely guarded by inchantments that the kings of Fez could never get to come neere them albeit they have many sundty times attempted the same And that which doth yet more shew the force and power of wordes may bee seene in Galen howe that a certaine Enchaunter did kill a Scorpion by the pronouncing of one onely worde And although that Galen himselfe as a Naturalist doth thinke to salve the matter by saying that the enchanter did first spet before he pronounced any thing and that all the force was in his spettle and not in his wordes yet cannot he make any man beleeve that the spettle or any exerement of a man hath so much power as to kill one so readily Moreover the Conciliator named Peter de Albano a phisitian telles a great deale more than ever Galon knew to wit that he himself faw a certaine enchantet Different 156 who by murmuring certaine words 〈◊〉 in the eare of a bull did make him fall to the ground sodainely as if he had beene dead and afterwards with repeating the verie same words did cause him to rise againe And this may verie well confirme that â—â—â—ch is reported of Pithagâ—ras how by vertue of his charmes he had the power to make tame gentle both woolves and other beasts which by nature were most fierce and cruell But now because peradventere the Appellant for fault of better defence will excuse himself and impute it to the force of Love and will perhaps pleasantly oite certaine Doctours of our time Piraquelluc de poenis who doe hold it as a common and received opinion that amorous persons allured and provoked by love are excused from the ordinarie punishment of the crimes and offences by them committed And it may be also they will alleadge that iudgement given by the Arâ—â—pagites Lib. 1. Magno moralium c. 17 who as Aristâ—tle reporteth did acquite and set free from an accusation a certaine woman that was convicted that in her passion of love she had given an amorous potion to her beloved of the which he died with in a short time after yet thus much I must and will tell him that how greas and furious soever the love be yet for all that it ought not to excuse any person that shall vpon premeditation and advisedly commit any publike criâ—â—e worthie of exemplarie punishment whatsoever the Doctours of latter times have â—â—d to the contrâ—rie and not withstanding that sentence of the Arâ—â—pagites the which ought not to bee accounted or reckoned of L. Si quis aliquid § aborhâ—nis D. de poen d. l. corum Damhouder in tract similum iuris In Oratiouâ—â—â—â—tra Arisâ—â—g l. 2. D. de legib as our owne lawes which do punish with like and equall punishment those that are Sorcerers and them that in an amorous passion do attempt theâ—â—oâ—o 〈◊〉 and chastitie of women and doe temper amorous potions whereby they cause the sicknesse or death of any persons And admit their intentions be not to destroy and kill them yet so it is that the law which as Dâ—me sthâ—â—â—s saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doth correct alike all crimes that are committed though unvoluntarily as well as those that are voluntarie doth likewise punish such persons as much as if they had committed voluntarie and wilfull murther Besides the very Arts which they vse are prohibited and forbidden as being of themselves and in their owne nature evill and are therefore punishable by death other meanes by which they may be restrained And to this purpose we have the ordinance of King Charles the 8. recorded in Latine This ordinance was in the yeare 1490. which willeth that all persons vsing any such Arts as are disallowed and condemned by the Church and by the world vniversally should be punished no lesse then Sorcerers Diviners and Enchanters the same to be done by such ordinarie Iudges as to whom the knowledge and determination thereof doth directly appertaine Vpon these reasons the partie defendant in this Appeale concluded that the cause had beene fully rightly and in all points well adiudged And according to these and the like conclusions the Court gave their iudgement and ordained that extraordinary processe should bee made and perfected against the Appellant But I suppose that this Discourse hitherto concerning charmes and enchauntments and touching the divells mingling themselves with the externall or internall senses hath beene extended sufficiently It is now requisite that we go on to the matter itselfe of Specters and Apparitions seeing we have to the vttermost of our endevours remooved and taken away the principall difficulties and the most pregnant arguments that seemed to any hinderance or impediment why faith or credite should not be yeelded vnto them FINIS A Table of the Contents of the severall Chapters THe definition of a Specter or Apparition and of the imagination togither with the severall kinds thereof Cap. 1. Of the diverse names and tearmes which are often vsed in the matter of Specters Cap. 2. Of the opinions and Arguments of the Sadducees and Epicures by which they would prove that the Angels and Divels doe not appeare vnto vs. Cap. 3. Of the opinions and Arguments of the Perrpatetiques by which they would impugne the Aparition◠〈◊〉 Spirits Cap. 4. Of the Arguments of those which denie that the Angels and Divels can take vnto them a bodie Cap. 5. Of the opinions of the followers of Pirron the Sceptiques and the Aporretiques and what they alledged to shew that the humane senses and the imaginative power of man are false Cap. 6. That many things being meerely naturall are taken by the sight or hearing being deceyved for Specters and thinges prodigious Cap. 7. That things artificiall as well as things naturall may sometimes deceyve the senses of the sight and of the hearing and drive men into a passion of feare and terrour Cap. 8. That the Senses being altered and corrupted may easily bee deceyved Cap. 9. That the Fantasie corrupted doth receyve many false Impressions and Specters aswell as the senses Cap. 10. What persons are most commonly subiect to receyve false imaginations and Phantosmes and to have the braine troubled and distracted Cap. 11. That the Divell doth sometimes convey and mingle himselfe in the Senses being corrupted and in the phantasie offended contrarie to the opinion of the naturall Philosophers Cap. 12. Errata Fol. 13 Lin. 4 For plunge reade plague ibid. lin 6 for a reade or fol 15 lin 3 for first read French fol. 16 l 1.2 for strinae read stripes fol. 27 lin 19. for to read so fol. 28 lin 16 for descend read defend fol. 29 lin 9 for keepeth sight reade keepeth the sight fol 36 lin 16. for hereby sheweth reade hereby he sheweth fol. 37 lin 16 for their read there fol. 45 lin 33 for metaphonall read metaphorical fol. 46 lin 27 for but cannot reade but it cannot fol. 47 lin 3 for purefaction reade rarefaction fol. 47 lin 33 for cannot reade they cannot fol 48 lin 19 for difference that read difference of that fol. 51 lin 8 for siste reade soft fol. 51. lin 9 for doubt read doubtfull