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
entonneled in a long cane or reede have deceived and seduced such as have beene scant well advised insomuch as they have caused them to doe things they would never have done if it had not beene by meanes of such abuse and illusion It is reported that Boniface the eight did vse this suttlety as a meane to climbe vnto the Papacie and faining himselfe to be an Angell he extorted the dignitie of the soveraigne Bishoppricke out of the handes of Celestine a simple holie man and more worthy to live in an Hermitage than to have that charge wherein he had beene placed and invested It is a matter also very famous and notorious how that in times past there was in the Towne of Angiers one that was servant vnto a rich and wealthy widow who to come to the toppe of his desires which was to gette his mistris in marriage by any practise whatsoever and that by meanes thereof hee might get an interest in the great wealth and goods which she possessed he fained himselfe to be the spirit of hir late deceased husband And breaking a wal or terrasse that was neere adioyning to his mistris bed side he put a reede thorow the same thorough the which speaking in the night season so as his Mistris might heare him hee oftentimes repeated these or the like wordes in effect My sweete love I am the soule of thy deceased husband who doe counsell thee for thy profite that thou take such a one thy servant in marriage This deceitfull illusion was of that force and efficacie that it fell out according as her servant had fore thought And indeede it was not ill for her for he became so good a husband that he died one of the richest and wealthiest persons of the towne insomuch as his riches is growne into a Proverb at this day throughout all Aniow Now there be some some persons Of divers artificiall devises vsed to make a shew of Spirits and Specters that together with some artificiall and coyned voyce doe also ioyne thinges naturall which at the first shew doe seeme very strange vnto the eyes of the Beholders As for example They doe clothe themselves in the skinnes of Sea-calves or Seales which naturally are of a glistering and shining colour and so doe they present themselves vnto those whome they have a purpose to deceive perswading them with a faint and fained voyce whatsoever they doe thinke good Sometimes they take a winding sheete or some white linnen clothes and doeaffirme themselves to be the soules and spirites of the dead And of these we can yeeld plentifull examples First of all here we may alleadge an history recited by Hector Boetius in his Annales of Scotland A certayne Scottish King having lost the battell against the Pictes found his people so discoraged that they were all out of love with the warres The King being much aggreeved therewithall did suborne certaine persons who being apparelled with bright shining scales and having in their handes truncheons of rotten wood which in Scotland is very common and dooth shine by night as wee have before saide did appeere vnto the Princes and Chiefetaines of the Scottish army being in their dead sleepe and awaking them did admonish them to fight afresh against the Pictes the antient enemies of the Scots And that they should not be afraide to assaile and set vpon them for that they were sent from God to tell them that they should vndoubtedly obtaine the victory This devise wrought so well and effectually that the Princes and Chiefetaines being of opinion that they had seene the Angels of heaven in their dreame did beleeve that God would fight for them and in this conceipt and imagination they charged vpon the Pictes so lively and courageously as they both defeated and vtterly rooted them out of their coun trey Thus did these truncheons of rotten wood and these scales of fishes or rather Seale-skins give a notable occasion to this king of Scots to adde an artificiaâ— devise of mans invention to the presence of men whose lively voyce ioyned to a thing mâ—erly natural yet strange at the first shew did cause theÌ„ that they which could not discerne neither the Nature of the one nor the Art of the other did take both the one and the other to be a verie vision and true Specter That which maketh mee most to marvell at these Princes and Chiefetaines is That though each of them severally and asunder by his owne bed side did see this naturall and artificiall vision none of them neverthelesse could discover this deceipt but that all in generall did beleeve that what was presented vnto them was surpassing and beyond nature But howsoever this was well carriâ—d without being discovered I suppose at this present the like would hardely and ill be done but that it woulde rather fall out contrary to the intention and meaning of the Deceiver so as himselfe would be deceived Erasmus in one of his Epistles which hee wrote vnto a certaine Bishop shewing That it is not alwayes sure nor expedient to give faith and credite vnto Specters the which are sayde by some to appeere vnto them amongest other Histories dooth bring in this that hapned in his time There was saith he a certaine person with whome a neece of his did dwell and soiourned being a woman rich and well monied and withall very covetous He counterfeiting himselfe to be a Ghost and a Spirite didde often vse to come in the night time into the chamber of his sayde neece and being covered with a white sheete did faine himselfe to be a soule departed He would vse also to vtter some doubtfull and ambiguous wordes and would make certaine rumblings and noyses in the ayre hoping that shee would have sent for some Exorcist to come vnto her or that she her selfe would have coniured it But as she had the courage more than of a woman so did she advise her selfe accordingly and caused a certaine friend of hers to come secretly into her chamber that should entertaine the spirite And having made him to drinke well because he should stand the lesse in feare of the Spirite and arming him with a good great cudgell as much as hee could well gripe in his hand that he might therewithall serve himselfe in steede of exorcismes shee caused him to be hidden in a corner by her bed side till such time as the supposed spirit should make his repayre thither who at his accustomed houre failed not to come and to make his wonted stirres and noyses bellowing and crying I knowe not in what sadde and sorrowfull sorte Vpon the heating of these stirres the good drunkard that waâ— to play the Coniurer beganne to rowze himselfe halfe overcome as hee was with wine and sleepe The spirit seeing him drawe towards him endevoured with more strange voyces and gestures as well as hee could to repulse and terrifie him But this gallant who by reason of his wine that had warmed his braines was the more hardy and
illusions And what shall wee say of those who counterfaiting themselves to bee spirits in an house where themselves are domestically dwelling doe thereby cause the death of some other by their lascivious and lewde behaviour For my owne part I do hold that they ought worthily to be punished with some arbitrarie paines torments And I can give you an argument or experiment of the like deede in a manner whereof our Civillians do make mention Licinius Ruffinus incomparatione legum Mosis Iurisconsult Certaine foolish young men did so rudely cast or tosle vp one of their companions that being throwne somewhat higher into the ayre then was reasonable he fell downe so vnhappily as his whole body was bruised and crushed together in such sort that hee died very shortly after Vlplanus li. 4. § cum quidam D. ad leg Cornel de sicar Iurisconsult A. in Furti § cum eo D. de furtis Lusus pernitiosus imprimitus esse non debei Glos in l. si quis aliquid D. de poenis Arg. l. penult § vlt. D de extraordin criminib l. vlt. D. eodem in verbo pro mode admissi actio dabitur ibi Paulus de Circ latoribus qui serpentes circumf erunt loquitur The Lawyer Vlpian saith in this case that those gallants which thus caused the death of this their companion by their foolish wantonnes were punishable as homicides and murtherers by the law Cornelia As also they in like case which doe engender such feare in the hearts of men being given to be superstitious and fearefull so as they die thereof ought to be punished by the same reason And Accursius saith that they which do in this manner feare and fright folkes ought according to the lawes to bee exiled and banished although the death of the parties do not happen therevpon But if so be any do die thereof he gathereth by divers lawes that then they which were the causers of such death should be punished extraordinarily But all this Discourse of Accursius is vppon the exposition of a certaine law of Paulus the Civilian who saith Whosoever shall do any thing whereby the simple spirits and mindes of men shall be frighted terrified through over great superstition The Emperor Marcus willed and ordained that such a one should be banished into some Island And yet for all that did not Accursius either more or lesse vnderstand the meaning of the law which he took vpon him to expound The French word is Sarlatans wherby is ment a kind of men who in Arabia Siria and other th' East countries do vsually by a kinde of charm take vipers scorpions and other serpēts in their bare hands so carrying them about do sell them For even those very lawes which he alledged by way of argument to what purpose doe they serve as touching his explication Their scope is not to entreate of any other thing then of the Arrabian Scopelisme or of those mountybanckes the which did vse to carrie about Serpents and not of any manner of feare conceived or apprehended through superstition But this is in some sort pardonable in Accursius who had not thoroughly searched nor turned over the good bookes of the antient Writers And therefore he could not so well expound any of those lawes that were drawn from the auntient histories For the truth is that the ordinance of Marke Antonyne the Emperour specified and declared in this law doth leade vs as it were by the hand to the interpretation and vnderstanding thereof if wee regarde by the historie it selfe the true motive that caused that Emperour to make this Ordinance Now the historie may well be gathered out of Iulius Capitolinus who saith that a certaine Impostor or cosening Deceiver making a speech in the field of Mars In vita Marci Anto-philoso vpon a wilde Figge-tree tooke vpon him to fore-tell and prophecie that the end of the world would bee very shortly after if that he at such time as he came downe out of that tree were changed into a Storke And within a while after he descending them let flie from his girdle a Storke that he had hanging thereat thinking by that devise to have deluded and blinded the people but he did it not so secretly but he was discovered and apprehended and led before the Emperour Marke who pardoned him Howbeit he made an ordinance by the which hee defended all men of what condition and qualitie soever not to feare and terrifie any man through superstition and vnder pretence of religion vpon paine to bee banished as we have said before So that you may see the true sense of the law drawne from this historie albeit the punishment which Antonyne ordained were lesse rigorous then it ought to bee For considering the greevousnes of the offence namely to ingender and breede a feare in a whole people vnder pretence of a false miracle death it selfe was but a iust and due reward for the same Of Impostors and deceivers taking vpon them to be adored as gods or deceiving men vnder a colour of religion Vnder the like paines also ought they to passe who doe give themselves out to the simple and credulous people to be adored and worshipped as gods and vnder the vayle and colour of religion do deceive and delude men faining themselves to be the soules of holie persons or such like spirits with an intent to cause themselves to be respected and honoured and that thereby they may attaine to the top of their desires bee they good or bad Hann◠the Carthaginian and Psappho did nourish birdes in a cage learning them this lesson to say That Hann◠and Psappho were gods Lucian recounteth a notable Imposture of one Alexander 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who nourishing in private a certaine gentle Serpent whereof there are many the like in Macedonie made the people of Pontus inhabiting about the Euxine Sea men of a grosse sensuall vnderstanding to beleeve that it was the god Esculapius And by that meanes hee plumed and fleeced them of their mony giving them nothing but fables and false oracles in paiment This false Prophet lived even in that verie time wherein Lucian and Athenagoras lived who made mention of him in some of their works And these two persons were living vnder the raigne of Antonyne the Philosopher and before him vnder Antonius Pius Before their time lived Simon Magus who did so cunningly charme and enchaunt the eyes of Nero by his false miracles and did so faine himselfe to be a god that Nero insteede of punishing him severely as he ought was perswaded to erect an Image vnto him set aloft on an high pillar wherevpon was written n = a The writing was in Latine Simoni Deo sancto But the Ecclesiasticall Historians who have written this historie of Simon have bin deceived in the name of Semo Fidius sanctus a god which the romans worshipt whom they tooke for Simon To Simon the holie god 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-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
and apparantly enioy this priuiledge to see God face to face he heard how God said vnto him That his seruant Moses might see him with out any impediment but that other Prophets should see him onely by vision The Hebrew Text is Bammarâ Elau ethuadaa That is to say I will manifest my selfe to them in vision Definition of a Fantasie what it is It resteth now that we speake of the Fantasie which is no other thing but an Imagination and impression of the Soule of such formes and shapes as are knowne or of such as shall bee imagined without any sight had of them Or which shall bee receiued and vnderstoode of others to bee such by reasons and arguments This definition giueth S. Augustine writing to Nebridius And first as touching the imagination of things knowne Episto 72 It is most plaine and euident that whensoeuer we dreame of them presently there commeth into our thought the Phantosme and Image of them As if we dreame of our friend Immediatly he presenteth himselfe to our mindes and imagination in the same stature face habite person and a thousand other such particularities which are notable in him So if we dreame of our Countrey It seemeth vnto vs that we see the very wayes before vs whereby we trauell our houses our lands and our friends which Apollonius the Rhodian very well expresseth in these verses As when it chanceth In Argonaut◠a thing to men oft chauncing That one in forraine soyle farre off goes wandring Yet findes no place so farre though farthest off But when he listes can see the same and through The high wayes of his Countrey sometimes erreth Sometimes his house his goods his lands beholdeth Now here now there his curious thoughts oft turning He leades them through a thousand places running This sort of Fantasie Cattius a famous Epicure of his time of whome Horace maketh mention in one of his Satyres doth call a Specter But Cicero writing to Cassius iesteth at him that not without cause The difference betweene a Specter and a Fantasie A vision or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a sensible apprehension 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a motion of the heauenly spirits as sayth S. Ba. vpō Esay For there is a very great difference between the one the other for that the one is a simple imagination of the spirit or minde and the other is a sensible vision The one is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thinking or imagination as Homer calleth it The other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is plainely and manifestly seene and the same Poet in another place calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now as touching things not knowne nor seene but imagined in the minde they are for the most part spirituall and without corporall substance or they are conceiued and vnderstoode by humane reason and gathered by demonstrations as to beleeue that there is a God which gouerneth the world and hath a care and ouersight of mankinde Now these Fantasies which may bee named also Intellectuall are comprised as the Stoicks say partly by similitude as Socrates by his Image and partly by the proportion or Analogy of one thing to another and that is either by way of encrease or diminution by increase as Cyclops and Titius Giants by diminution as a Pigmey and a Dwarfe and partly by translation as wee say the eyes of the breast and by composition as an Hippocentaure a Tragelaphe and others such like monsters composed of two seuerall kindes of creatures and by the contrary of a thing as death by life And generally those things which are incorporall and vniuersall are comprehended by the meanes of such things as are corporall according to the saying of the Ciuilians For by the ground say they which oweth seruitude and yeeldeth benefit a man may comprehend the seruice and benefite belonging thereunto which are things meerely incorporall Now of al these kindes of Imagination which we haue so amply and at large described It may be gathered that there are two sortes of Imagination Two kindes of Imagination namely one Intellectuall and without corporall substance The other sensible and corporall Intellectuall Incorporall Sensible and Corporall Imagination Intellectuall what it is The Intellectuall is the Fantasie of which is bred and engendred in vs a memory or remembrance as the Peripatetickes speake and the discourse of the reasonable soule I meane that discourse which is proper only vnto man by the which he ballanceth and weigheth the things present by those which are past foreseeth by things past those which are to come after For albeit the vnreasonable creatures doe sometimes seeme to haue a kinde of discourse or dreaming in them as is to be seene in Horses and Dogges yet this dreaming or discourse in them is no other then meerely bestial and brutish which doth not accomodate nor apply it selfe but onely to things present by an vnreasonable appetite desire vnto those things which they loue and by eschewing and abhorring to their vtmost powers that which may be fearefull or contrary vnto them And therefore Epictetus speaking of those fantasies Theocritus which are sodainly carryed by the outward senses into the inward powers of the soule and doe carry feare and terrour with them as namely Thunders Earthquakes fearefull sights terrours and other such like things He said very well that they are common to vs with the brute beastes which are guided onely by their brutish senses But that the resolution which hee calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is proper and peculiar vnto man And for as much as it happeneth that such fantasies are out of the power will Terrours bred in the mind by the sense common to men with with brute beastes and election of the soule It followeth that they proceed of the senses which being no longer held vnder the rule and gouernment of the reason they doe more sauour of the brutall then the reasonable part of the soule And if peraduenture it shall be obiected that often times euen wise men themselues are not exempted from these feares and apprehensions To this I answere that it is not possible but the bodie of man should tremble and start at those things as beeing framed and compounded of Spirits apprehensiue subtill and sensible but it is soone quieted and as it were brought in temper againe by the soule which doth reassure and restore courage vnto it As when one casteth a stone into the water he shal see the water for a while to bubble vp and bee troubled but soone after it returneth to it former estate Imagination sensitiue twofold and whence it commeth The definition of a Specter opened and confirmed in the seuerall parts thereof Now touching that Imagination which is sensitiue either it is false and commeth either of the imaginatiue power corrupted or of the senses hurt and altred or else it is true and then it is that which we call a Specter which we defined to be
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
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
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
many thousands of persons as it were of souldiers giving a charge or onset in battell And when they are at the second they heare yet a farre greater noyse And being at the last then they heare as it were a great reioycing and showting of men triumphing as if the victorie had beene gotten This albeit it be verie admirable yet neverthelesse it is naturall And Clement Alexandrine himselfe doth esteeme the cause thereof to bee by reason of the concavitie of the places which maketh such a noyse to bee heard But wee doe dwell over long vppon these thinges which be naturall and in some sort miraculous and admirable of which if we should pursue the particularities such as Plinie Pausanias Strabo Seneca Elian Aristotle and others admirers of the works of Nature have described and numbred them we might make ahuge volume and yet digresse nothing at all from the scope of our intended purpose But our intent was onely to touch that which in Nature is most rare and marvellous and might be an occasion of feare and terrour and not that which is vsuall and commonly knowne vnto the most part of men or such as the cause thereof is in it selfe evident and apparant We will therefore now descend vnto such things as being meerely artificiall yet doe no lesse then those which are naturall feare and terrifie men if they be never so little ignorant of the causes of them CHAP. VIII That things Artificiall as well as things Naturall may sometimes deceive the Senses of the Sight and of the Hearing and drive men into a passion of feare and terrour HAving sufficiently entreated of those things that are bred and produced most singular in Nature and such as doe in some sort draw neere vnto a kinde of divinitie It now foloweth that we shew what the hand industrie and spirit of men dooth worke and effect and that so ingeniously and subtilly as many times a man would take it for as great a marvell as if it were some divine thing and supernaturall Now as there are manifold and sundry wits and spirits of men so doe there proceede from them many and divers kindes of cunning and artificiall devises Some have ayded themselves only with their owne invention without any Art at all Of artificial workes done by the Arte Antomatique or having motion in themselves others with their naturall invention have ioyned Art in all perfection But what Arte is there that dooth more instruct and teach ingenious and artificiall experiments than dooth the Mathematiques of the which both the Antomates and the Hydrauliques have drawne their originall And as touching the Antomates that is to say such woorkes as have a motion of themselves A man may well say That this is an Arte and Science of excellent and divine effects Libr. 1. Politie Truly Aristotle doth make great esteeme and reckoning of the Antomates wroght by Dedalus and of the Tripodes of Vulcan The which as the Poet saide 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Did enter by their owne proper motion into the assembly of the gods The Scholiast of Euripides testifieth the like In Hecubam and so dooth Plato the Philosopher And Aristotle saith moreover in another place citing the authoritie of Philippe a Comicall Author Li. x. de Anim. That â—â—â—â—â—us did make a statue or Image of Venus the which â—â—â—â—e meanes of quickesilver artificially enclosed within 〈◊〉 did moove and stirre of it selfe The Philosopher Arcâ—itas borne at Tarentum in Italy made an artificiall Dove which did flie in the ayre as if it had beene alive And Archimedes composed a Sphere of glasse of such excellent workemanship that a man might therein perceive and comprehend the mooving of the Heavens and of the wandering planets as is reported by Claudian In Epigram de sphaera Archi. who was in an extreame admiration of that peece of worke And certainely Cassiodorus writeth Aemula natura parva reperta manus In lib. varior that Boetius of whose writing wee have certaine bookes of the Mathematiques was so excellently skilfull in the working of these Automates as he had not the like in his time Tibi saieth hee ardua cognoscere â—ir acula monstrare propositum est tuae artis ingenio â—et alla mugiunt Diomedes in are gravius buccinatur Aeuens anguis insibilat Aves simulatae sunt quae vocom propriam nesciunt habere duicedinem cantilenae probantur emittere Parva de illo referâ—mus cui coelim imitari faâ—est That is Thy profession is to knowe things of an high and profound nature and even to woorke miracles For by the ingeniousnes of thy Arte the dead mettalls doe bellow and mow like lowing beasts Diomedes is made in brasse to sound a Trumpet A brasen Serpent is taught to hisse and Birdes are formed and resembled as if all of them were made naturally And such things as have not any proper voyce are pâ—ooved by Arte to send foorth a most sweete and pleasing Musicke And yet all these things whereof we speake are little or nothing vnto him to whome it is given to imitate even the very Heavens But what neede wee insist vpon the examples of the Antients our owne Age is not vnfurnished of such excellent spirites comparable to that of Boetius For in the time of our Fathers every man knoweth that Charles the fift Emperour of Almaine had an Eagle presented vnto him that was in nothing inferiour to Architas his Dove nor to those Serpents Birdes and Diomede of Boetius for this Egle being made of nothing else but of mettall had divers little resorts which playing within it did make the same for a certaine time to flie of it selfe in the ayre A thing without doubt very strange and marvellous and which being seene by those that knew not the cunning workmanship contrived within it made them beleeve That there was some diabolicall thing in it and that it was nothing but meere Magicke and a bewitching and enchaâ—nting of the eyes In Paris there was a certaine Goldsmith borne in Aniow who died but very lately to whome I will give this honour That there was not either in Almanie Italie or any other countrey any man that was able to surmount and excell him in regarde of these Amomatique workes I my selfe sawe a Gailie of silver of his making in such an artificiall fashion that it would of it selfe moove and goe vppon a Table and a man might see how the motions within the same which rowed it vp downe when they came to the tables end woulde turne about the Gally as if they had had life and vnderstanding And the same Gold-smith before that time had made a certaine Triton or Seaman which when the resorts motions therof were bent or wownd vp set on going would shew himselfe so furious That anie who had seene it vpon the land how it tormented and vexed it selfe durst not have touched nor handled it Of th' artificiall works
they have so acted the well representing and acting of their partes as themselves in the midst of their sporte have become truely and indeede furious and have done actes of outrage and fury even such as the parties did whome they represent The historie of Aesope the Stage player is well knowne who playing the pâ—â—te of Thiâ—stes did with his Scepter kill one of his owne boyes This Aesope was a great friend of Cicero and Hâ—râ—câ— gave him the epytheâ— and title of a grave man Lucian writeth of a certaine Actor or Stage player who playing the part of Aiax in a fury became in the middest of his parte so troubled and distracted in his senses that he did not any more faine himselfe to be furious but hee grow so truly and indeede From some he â—ore off their clothes From the Musitions hee snatched away their flutes and cornets To him that acted Vlysses if his coppe or bonnet wherewith hee was covered had not guarded him he had made his head a drinking place for the flâ—es In the end not content with these fooleries he descended from two Stage and placed himselfe in the middest betweene the Roman Senatours who having beene in times past Consulles were not without some feare lest this gallant would have mistaken them for Vlysses and Agamemnon and so have whipped them as if they had beene some curtall curre This historie maketh me to remember Vibius Gallus a Romane Oratour of whome Seneca speaketh how hee became as a man would say a very foole and distracted of his wittes only through the voluntary merrinesse and pleasaunt conceitednesse of his owne minde For hee vsing to immitate too too much the vaines of foolish persons and counterfaiting them to his vtmost This immitation so changed him in nature that hee became a meere foole and naturall indeede But to give an ende to this Discourse of furious and mad men I may not forget what Tertullian saith That those who be furious doe imagine that they fee other men or beasts in those whome they beholde as Orestes sawe his mother in his sister Electra and Aiax imagined Vlysses and Agamâ—â—non to be amongest a heird of beasts And to make shorte Agave and Athamas pursued and slew their owne children supposing they had killed savage and wilde beasts This shall suffice to be spoken touching the senses and the fantasie and concerning such who oftentimes by reason of the organs sensitive ill disposed or by means of their fantasie corrupted by sickenesse madnesse melancholy love excessive furie and other accidents have either externally or internally felt their naturall powers to be altered and changed and have deceived themselves by false visions and phantosmes It is now time that wee come to another question which ariseth out of this Discourse and can not well be seperated from it to wit If the divell can at any time convey or mingle himselfe with the senses either being sound or corrupted or with the humours and fantasie being offended oriâ— it be onelie the power and facultie of Nature or of the Starres which doe worke those marvellous effects vpon our bodies as is affirmed by Aveâ—reis Pomponatius and other Physitians who doe ordinarily attribute all things vnto Nature CHAP. XII That the Divoll doth sometimes convey and mingle himselfe in the Senses being corrupted and in the Phantasie affended contrarie to the opinion of the naturall Philosophers WE have heretofore shewed that ofttimes the Senses by reason of their imbecillity depravation and the Phantasie by meanes of divers maladies both corporall and spirituall doe feele in themselves an alteration from their proper and particular faculties as the eyes from seeing perfectly the eares from hearing the nose from smelling the mind and the phantasie from reasoning and discoursing and from discerning things by the vse of reason All which is so manifest and evidently true as to doubt thereof would be too too grosse a follie and ignorance because we see that the same daily happeneth and there are very few men who in their habitude or custome of life doe not receive and admit through accesse of yeares some change and alteration of their naturall senses and some dimination of their spirits And as touching those who in truth are wholy troubled and distracted from their sense or vnderstanding the examples thereof are so frequent and the multitude of them is so great and copions that no man can be ignorant of the same Yet this is not the point wherein any difficultie resteth or wherein should â—â—nsist the sumâ—â— of this dispuâ—e But it is sufficient plainely and simply to affirme that the nature of man may receive in it selfe changes may erre by the senses may be perverted in her discourse and may loose the vse of reason of prudence and of vnderstanding To be briefe in things which receive no contradiction as this same it should be but a vaine and lost labour to enter into any subtile discourse and to seeke out any great reasons and argumentes In heaping vp of the which a man shall bee sooner reprooved of too much curiositie then commended for his learning For this cause also have not I dwelt much in playing the Philosopher and dilating vpon that which is easie for every man to know and see of himselfe And if I have alleadged and cited both some reasons of phisicke and some histories which made to my purpose the same hath beene done rather by forme and way of discourse touching things whereof the notion is common then of any intention or purpose to enter into the depth and secrets of Philosophie especially in that which doth in no sort require the knowledge of a Philosopher But now as it is commonly seene that in the pursuit of any discourse which is easie in the first beginnings thereof it is vsuali to meete with some difficulties arising out of the principall matter a So doth it now fall out that in speaking of the senses and the phantasie I am fallen I know not how into an high and difficult question proceeding of that matter and that is Whether in the Senses being either sounder corrupteds or 〈◊〉 able Phaneasin being wounded and offended the Divâ—ll can possibly mingle and convey himselfe and there exercise his furie or if it be Nature only that worketh therein al aloue as is held by Pomponatius and Avenrâ—is according as I have formerly alleadged That nature is not the cause of any marvellous effects by working vpon the Senses or the phantasie corrupted or offended A speciall thing that maketh me firmely to beleeve that it is a kinde of mockery to say that Nature dooth worke in the Senses corrupted or in the Phantafie offended is this that then is must needes be inferâ—ed that the nature of man is more stâ—dâ—g and puissant when if is corrupted and depraved then when it is in it formd and entire estate Which indeed is nothing else but to erre in all true naturall Philosophie which doth ever preferre the habite before the
more therefore may it stand with reason that the Sorceresses even in the company of their husbands may be ravished and grow into an extasie and see in their imagination such divelish visions even as they be laid by the sides of their hushauds Now of these kindes of ravishment by way of extasie I can alleadge vnto you an infinite number of histories but it shall suffice that I recire two or three onely which I have read in Caietan named de Vio an interpreter vpon S. Thomas of Aquine and in Nider from whom both Silvester Prieras Spranger Henry Institoris and others having made that booke intituled Mullens maleficarum and Ghirlandus also have collected the better part of their Treatise Now De Vie sheweth how himselfe did knowe a certaine woman a Sorceresse In quast 106. secunda secunda arti 3. which was exceedingly enamored of a young man and whom the divell did annoint all naked with a certaine oyntment perswading her that he would bring her into the house of her beloved This woman having beene of a long time in an extasie and comming againe to her selfe affirmed that she had bin and laine with her friend and no man could perswade her to the contrarie notwithstanding that in very deede she was found laid all naked in her bed and there had beene so exceedingly wearied and toyled that being taken with an hoarsenesse by reason of the extreame colde which she had endured she was driven to keepe her bed till she was throughly eased and refreshed And Caietâ—â— had not afterwardes shewed and made it manifest vnto her that this which she had seene was nothing else but an imagination she would never have conceived the truth thereof so greatly was she deceived and abused by the divell And hee telleth farther how he knew an olde woman who had reported and given out that she would not faile to bee at the Sabbaoth and that she should be transported thither from her chamber howbeit for all this shee was found starke naked in the same chamber altogether sencelesse and in an extasie insomuch as the illusion and deceit of the divell being made manifest and apparant vnto her she was converted and brought to be of another minde And Nider alleadgeth also an example of another old woman who being by no meanes to be converted or perswaded by her Inquisitour shee did in the end betake her selfe to enter into her chamber at such time as she vaunted that she would goe to her Sabboth and there was she seene how at the first she beganne to sleepe sitting and then to grow into a great sweate holding a bason in her hand the which falling downe shee also fell vpon the ground all at her length and there discovering her secret parts she was afterwards awakened not without being greatly ashamed and confounded That Witches and Sorcerers have sometimes carnall copulation with the divell and bee in outward appearances changed into the shapes of beasts But that wee may not fall away too soone from our purpose touching Sorcerers and others who have sworn allyance and confederacie with the divell Besides that they be ravished in an extasie they have sometime also carnall copulation with him and may be changed in the forme and shape of divers beasts And albeit the Phisitians will come vpon vs with their disease called Ephialte or the Falling-sicknesse the which we have formerly described and with their Licantropie with which diseases they that be taken and surprized do imagine themselves to have carnall companie with spirites or doe thinke themselves to bee changed into Woolves yet in very truth so it is that there be some men and women which in very deede have had copulation as Incubi or Sutcubi with the divells and have beene changed into Woolves so farre forth as the outward sight and sense was able to discerne and have had the same affection as Woolves have and which is more have beene coupled with the females of Woolves This is a thing in some fort very difficult and hard to be beleeved esperially of such as 〈◊〉 naturallists and doe attribute most thinges to the worke power of nature and I know that Plinie doth make a mocke and ieast at it and especially at that which is called Lycantropiâ— which he accompteth but a meere fable And yet neverthelesse himselfe alleadgeth Evanthes a Greeke Author who saith that there is in Arcadia a certaine linage of men Lib. 8. cap. 22 who passing over a certaine flood or river doe become woolves and repassing the same do returne into their humane shape againe So that he is doubtfull of that which he ought to beleeve in that point And being ignorant of the power of divells hee râ—steth himselfe vpon the power of nature which is in some sort excusable in him being but a Pagan But it is a question worthie the handling to knowe whether the divells have the power to change in verie deede Question whether the divell can change the bodies of men indeed or not the substance of mans bodie or whether it be in 07 shew and apparance onely deceiving not onely the fantasie of the Sorcerer or of the partie which shall bee bewitched or enchanted but also the externall senses of those that shall behold them The truth is this question hath beene handled by Saint Augustine who holdeth Aunsvver Lid. 18. de civi dei that the true bodies of men cannot in any sort be changed by the Art of the divell but that he may well bee in such a body as is fantasticall and which either in dreaming or in imagination doth diversly alter and change it selfe by many sorts and kindes of things that doe present themselves vnto the minde And albeit the same be not indeede a true body yet may it take the forms and shape of a body suppressing and keeping as it were asleepe the outward senses of men in such sort as their true bodies may in the meane while repose themselves and be at rest in some other place surprised and overcome with a deepe and profound sleepe And the same Saint Angustine goeth yet further and saith how himselfe knew the father of one named Prestaâ—â—tius who was changed into a Muse and being thus metamorphosed did carrie vpon his backe certaine cariages and baggage of souldiers And this learned Doctour doth set down his resolution That this was nothing else but a meere illusion of the divell and that the father of Prostantius was not changed into a Mule and much lesse did hee carrie any bagge or baggage but that these were the divells which did charme and enchant the eyes of the beholders making them beleeve that the father of Prostantius was a Mole and carried those burdens baggage notwithstanding that it was they themselves which carryed them And agreeable to this resolution of Saint Augustine Gulielmus Parisiensis doth recount a certaine history which is worthy the marking Vltima parte de vnivers because in things of like
mooving of the soule being quicke and sodaine we may not marvell nor thinke it strange if as by the beating and striking together of the flint and the steele there are forced out sparkle of fire so also by the agitation of the spirits the arising and boiling of the humours and the mooving of the soule of man he may by the organs fit and proper therevnto vtter foorth speeches never heard before and some strange language til then vnknown Now the facultie of the soule is very apte and readily disposed to perceive and apprehend the knowledge of things and to be embewed with their principles even before such time as it commeth to vse them in such sort as the opinion of Plato seemeth to have some likelihoode of truth that our knowledge and vnderstanding is no other thing than a kinde of remembring For even so the soule which is the principall and most divine parte of man at such time as it is stirred and mooved against the naturall motion thereof and beginneth to bee troubled with corporall maladies it dooth then also happen to vtter and putte foorth that which lay before hidden and concealed in the most profound and inward partes thereof a to witte such faculties and forces as bee even divine and celestiall And like as there be some trees and plants which doe not cast foorth from themselves any good seent or odour but onely when they are rubbed and chafed with the hand even so the faculties and powers of the soule doâ—never so shew themselves as when they come to be stirred and mooved And by the same reason the jeate and the amber will not be made to drawe vppe to them the strawe or the rush till such time as they be first rubbed and a long time chafed betweene the handes And whereof commâ—th iâ— saith â—â—â—inus further that they which be neere to the point of death do commonly prophecie the which Homer also witnesseth in divers bookes of his Iâ—iads except it be because an vnaccustomd force Aâ—iad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exciting and stirring vp it selfe within them before death doth as it were ravish them in a kind of divine inspiration in such sort as they be besides themselves and doe suffer themselves to be carried away with the power of the spirit or soule which is then set on discoursing vttering by their mouthes such things as are afterwards to ensue and come to passe But let Levinus say what he list as a Phisitian he cannot for all that perswade me Levinus Lâ—mnius opinion confuted that men do naturally speake divers languages vnlesse it be either by miracle and by the power of the holy spirit of God as did the Apostles or else by the aide and helpe of the divell as did they whome the antient Christians of the Primitive Church called Energomenous and whom we call Demoniaques or persons possest Yea but saith he the agitation of the humours by sicknesse and the mooving of the soule both which doe cooperate and worke together may worke wonders and make them to speake divers languages To this I answer that it is not either the humours or the soule which do cause a man in his sicknesse or fever to speake divers languages but it is the divell who doth as wee have said mingle himselfe in the humours being corrupted And so is the resolution vpon this point of Saint Thomas Aquinas who speaking of lunaticall persons vexed by the divell according to the encrease and decrease of the Moone saith that the divells doe considder howe the humours of the bodie are disposed to their effectes and accordingly they doe follow the course of the Moone which hath a certaine commanding power over the braine and the humours in such sort as man shall see more lunatike persons tormented by the divell then of anie other sorts whatsoever The words of that Doctour are these The reasons why the divells do the more exercise their rage according to the encrease of the Moone is for two respects First because that thereby they may make the creature of God to wit the Moone the more infamous as saith both Saint Ierome and Saint Iohn Chrysostome In cap. 4. super Mathe. Homil. 54 in Mathe. Secondly for that they doe vsually worke according to the naturall vertues and faculties and in their workings and effects doe consider the aptnesse and disposition of the body Now it is manifest that the braine of al other parts of the body Lib. de somno vigilia is the most moist as Aristotle affirmeth and for that cause it is principally subiect vnder the domination and power of the Moone the which by her particular propertie hath the power to moove the humours and they troubling the braine doe give occasion to the divell to mixe and convey himselfe into and amongst them and so to trouble the phantasie of the partie Thus you see the very words vsed by this Doctour Questione 115. Tim. 1. sacrae Theologiae Art 5. which may serve also against Hippocrates who derided some in his time that thought the Falling-evill to be caused onely by the wrath and anger of the gods and not of any disturbance or depravation of the braine And for that cause Lib. de sacro morbâ— Hypocrates his opinion touching the Falling-evill as hee saith they vsed then expiations and charmes to chase and drive away this sacred evill or disease the which hee denied to bee a thing that ought in any sort to bee beleeved that the gods did in any sort cause it because the body of man could not be any waies polluted or defiled by the gods they being pure and chaste And by the vsing of expiations and purgations it must be inferred that they touching our bodies do pollute and defile them the which to beleeve of the divine powers could not but be blasphemous and wicked Hypocrates his opinion confuted But this Phisitian did not consider that there were many sorts of gods amongst the Pâ—yniâ—s that those which they held to be terrestrial infernal they called numina lava that is Hurtful gods or evil spirits such as vsed to possesse the bodies and to hurt them And for this cause did they vse to make their supplications vnto them for feare lest they should doe them some harme And if they did finde themselves to have any evill and vnquiet nights and ill dreames by them then did they vse to purge and cleanse themselves as we shall heereafter shew in another place fit for that purpose This sheweth plainly that Hippocrates knew not well what to thinke whether the gods did inwardly possesse and seize vpon the body of the partie troubled with the Epilepsie or surprized with the Falling-evill seeing he alleadgeth no other reason then this I know not how taken from his Paganisme which we have shewed to be very vaine of no moment even by the opinion of those of his owne religion I doe not in any sort reproove those good