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

fréende Anthony First God that is most iust by that meanes doth punish the sinnes of his childrē For those whom we terme godly true Christians they are many tymes not onely not without their infirmities and imperfections but subiect also vnto gréeuous sinnes and offences as Sainct Iohn teacheth in the first Epistle the first Chapter the ix and x. verse If wee say that wee haue no sinne wee make God a lyar Wherefore these are iustly by God punished besides that by this kinde of crosse and affliction God tryeth the patience of his chosen For lyke as hée prooued his seruaunt Iob by the iniuries of the most vngodly men the Caldes so doth hee also prooue his beloued people by the witchcraft and poysoning of Sorcerers which redoundeth vnto the profit and commoditie of the faithfull For as Sainct Paule sayth to the Romans the fift Chapter and third verse Affliction bringeth patience patience bringeth probation probation bringeth hope which neuer confoundeth for the loue of God is sowen in our hartes through the holy Ghost So that the godly ought patiently to abide these afflictions so to submit themselues to God and confirme themselues wholy vnto his will and pleasure Anthony I stucke fast in the water as the Prouerbe sayeth and I made a doubt where was none or which as I perceyue is easily resolued And since you haue aptly aunswered mée vnto those thrée poinctes which I demaunded namely what this worde Sortiarius signifieth whither there be in déed any such finally ouer what kindes of thinges these Sorcerers haue power and can exercise their artes I beseech you Theophilus that you will hereto adde the fourth poynte and declare vnto mée after what manner sort means they can intoxicate and put in practize their poysons The fourth Chapter After what sort and meanes Sorcerers doe intoxicate and poyson thinges Theophilus WHat Anthony doe you thinke that I am so expert and conuersaunt in their art that I can tell you all that belongeth therto you remember what protestatiō I made at the enteraunce beginning of our discourse that I neuer was acquainted with Satan or any of these sorcerers nor neuer minde to be neither looke I for any prayse for the knowledge of these matters Howbeit so farre as myne abilitie shall extend I wyll satisfie your honest request This therfore is that which you require of me by what meanes Sorcerers doe worke and infect thinges with their poyson wherein I will answere that which is most true that they doe all these thinges by meanes instinct and craft of the most miserable wicked Satan the Diuell For this much I dare affirme vnto you that there is no sorcerer but he maketh a league couenant with the Diuel and voweth himselfe vnto him In confirmation of which vowing he receaueth in his body some note or marke made and imprinted by Satan in some parte which he alwayes beareth aboute him some vnder theyr eye liddes others betwene their buttockes some in the roofe of their mouth and in other places where it may be hid cōcealed from vs Although some be of opinion that all Sorcerers are not priuily pricked and marked by Satan but those onely of whose constancie towardes him hée standeth in doubt and those of whom he do●bteth not are left vnmarked yet may I say thus more certenly and truely that there is none of them vpon whom he hath not set some note or token of his power prerogatiue ouer them which to thintent the iudges and such as are set in aucthoritie of life and death and to enquire of such matters may the better perceiue let them specially prouide that when any of these shal be conuented before them to poulle and shaue them where occasion shall serue al the body ouer least haply the marke may lurke vnder the heare in any place For they haue made a couenāt with Satan themselues for their part agayne haue made him such a promise Satan in this wise that they shall acknowledge and worship him for their God and they on the other side that Satan shall helpe and defend them So according to couenaunt satan helpeth them and according to theyr prayers so worketh and doth he for them and they agayne obey his preceptes and commaundementes Anthony Yea but forasmuch as Satan of his owne nature is a great lyer yea the father of lyes will hée kéepe touch and fulfill his promise as you haue sayd Theoph. Satan is not alwayes a lyer though he be alwayes a deceyuer For oftentimes he speaketh truth that he may deceyue those that heare him and oftentimes he perfourmeth his promise bicause he will not seeme to be a deceyuer but rather a teller of truthe When Satan sayd of our Sauiour Christ in Marke the .ij. Chapter the .xxiiij. verse Thou arte that holy one of God He sayd true and lyed not But what was his mynde then Forsoothe that they whiche hearde that should afterwarde be deceyued And when he sayd as much of Paul and Sillas in the .xvj. chapter of Actes the .xvij. verse in these wordes These men are the seruantes of the great God whiche shewe vnto you the way of saluation he sayd true yet notwithstanding he was a deceyuer and by that meanes he sought a way to deceyue men So when Satan kéepeth promise performeth those thinges which he hath couenāted with the Sorcerers he doth it to the intent that afterward he may more easely readely seduce thē also the more assure●ly binde and allye them vnto him Antho. Procéede then I pray you declare the meanes whereby they doo work Theo. This is almost the maner of making their couenant First Satā requireth of thē that they do wholly fully renounce the true God creator of al thinges the lord of heauen hell that henceforward they serue him who there professeth him selfe without dissimulation to be Satan and that hereafter they depend at his becke and cōmaūdemēt séeking al their helpe of him Which renouncing denying of the true God with the most abhominable forswering of him is the first step entrance to make frendship agréemēt betwene these wicked men Satan and the first bargain of all this busines Unto these in this detestable maner being receiued into seruice slauery to Satā he then geueth a marke either with his téeth or hand then willeth euery one to demaunde of him what they would haue him do for thē teaching them the safest priuiest wayes to reuenge thēselues vpon those whō they hate Then geueth he pouders rootes poysons vnto thē ether by himself or by others that are there in a redines that they may fréely safely intoxicate whō they list Then this vngracious new seruāt of satan euery day afterward something of his goods to his patrone some his dogge some his hen and some his cat In which dooing there is a greater ratifying of their déede and deniall of the true God then in their first

contract And to conclude this is the summe of al their wickednesse But Satan distrusting the constancie of his seruauntes shortly after calleth them togither into a Diuelish Sinagoge and that he may also vnderstand of them howe well and diligently they haue fulfilled their office of intoxicating committed vnto them whō they haue slaine wherefore they méete togither in certen apointed places not al of them togither nor at once but certen of them whom he pleaseth to call so that he apointeth where they shall méete and at what houre of the day or of the night wherein they haue no surenes nor certentie For these méetinges are not weekely nor monthly nor yéerely but when and how often it shall séeme good to this their maister And many times himself warneth them to méete sometimes hée apoynteth others to warne them in his stéede But when he doth it himself he appeareth vnto them in likenesse of a man or in some other fourme whereby they may know him in so much that it hapneth many tymes that among a great company of men the Sorcerer only knoweth Satan that is present when other doo not know him although they see another man but who or what he is they know not But when he citeth them to appeare by any of his other disciples and Sorcerers vnto which appearance both tyme and place is apointed in which they must resort to their miserable méetinges and impious Synagoges which they call Satanicall Sabbathes then doo they méete And if any chance to pretend that the iourny is long or themselues weake and féeble and that they stand in feare and dread of men hee answeareth them sufficiently to all their excusations For he promiseth that himself wil conuay them thither that are so weak that they cannot trauaile of themselues which many tymes he doth by meanes of a staffe or rod which he deliuereth vnto thē or promiseth to doo it by force of a certen oyntment which he will geue them and sometimes he offreth them an horse to ride vpon But if they be yet affraid he sheweth them a meanes how they shall goe and not be seene during all the time of the iorney and come safely thither In the ende he cutteth away all pretences and excuses of absence and he sheweth thē these meanes bicause he woulde seeme to be more louing and carefull ouer them thereby to make them more bounde and beholding vnto him Thus whē they méete together he appeareth visibly vnto them in sundrie fourmes as the head chiefe of that congregation Sometime he talketh with them in shape of a man sometime like a most filthy bucke goate and sometime in other licknesses Then doe they all repeate the othe which they haue geuen vnto him in acknowledging him to be their God thē fal they to dauncing wherin he leadeth the daunce or els they hoppe and daunce merely about him singing most filthy songes made in his prayse Whiche beeing all finished then he demaundeth agayne of them what they woulde require of him and what poysons they lacke to intoxicate any man And as any of them vttereth the cankred request of their poysoned stomack against any man so doth he shew them a meanes to reuenge For vnto some he geueth poysons ready made and others he teacheth howe to make and mingle new Unto others he geueth certay●● tokens and charecters and wordes or oyntments by vertue whereof he promiseth them they shall foreknowe moste surely thinges to come and bring to effect whatsoeuer they would worke Finally if in any thing they néede his presence and helpe by couenant he promiseth to be present with them So that the meanes whereby Sorcerers doe intoxicate are partly manifest and starke poisons whose ingredience as they terme them are deadly and mortiferous and condemned by the learned Phisitions for thinges that kil presently partly they are without poison that we or the Sorcerers themselues can vnderstande of howbeit they mingle some with them partly also they put no visible poyson to hurte into them which is much more maruelous thā any of the other twayne aboue specified Wherfore if they haue mingled any of the manifest known poisons they are sone perceiued of the Phisitions and are found to be suche after that they vnderstand by their cōfession of what stuffe they consist and are made And those which they geue not themselues knowing what they bee or of what thinges they bee compounded notwithstanding they contineue in hurting Lyke as although they seeme not to haue myngled any hurtfull poyson yet cease they not to intoxicate dooing it either only with the ayre or breath of their mouth or else holding a certen roote within their téeth which Satan deliuereth vnto them which they chawe so doo kill and destroy men with only talking with them And whereas many tymes they intoxicate them whom they touch not it may not séeme straunge vnto vs For then the intoxication is done by Satan himself priuily casting forth or blowing the powder or roote vpon them at the Sorcerers request which Satan doth according to couenant as I haue sayd by reason wherof in certen thinges he is their seruant and supplyeth vnto them his wicked and cruell attendaunce Anthony Truely Theophilus I was al in a quaking colde when you tolde euen now those horrible and diuelish thinges So God helpe me I trembled and shooke they were so woundrous straunge These then be Satans artes whereby he bindeth the Sorcerers vnto him Theophil They are so Anthony Anthony But I pray you sir where haue you learned them Theophil Out of their confessions almost infinite and very like to be true out of iudgements pronounced agaynst them innumerable out of whiche a man may commonly gather them Anthony Howbeit there be thrée points whiche in your former discourse séemed vnto me very obsurde and impossible which no man will graunt you lightly Theophil What be they Anthony First I agrée with you in this that Satan can appeare vnto men in the shape of a man which if we should say can not be done then must we denie the méeting and talking togither of Christe with the Diuell whereof the Scripture maketh mention in the .iiii. of Mathew where it is written how Satan appeared visibly and in the shape of a man vnto christ Secondly I wil easely graunt you that Sorcerers can learne no good thing of Satan but suche counsels and precepts as proceede from a vile and naughtie disposition suche as is to reuenge himselfe to intoxicate straungers to slay men at vnwares and to minister all these thinges priuelie none knowing or witting of it Some also there bée that reuenge them selues eyther suche as hate their brothers beeing the children of the Diuell as sayth Sainct Iohn the first of Iohn the thirde chapter and tenth verse as we are on the other side commaunded all by the expresse commaundement of God to loue all men Mathew the .v. chapter .xliiij. verse Wherfore I suppose these two poyntes to

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