Chapter X (10)

[1169]Gregorius Tholsanus makes seven kinds of ethereal spirits or angels, according to the number of the seven planets, Saturnine, Jovial, Martial, of which Cardan discourseth lib. 20. de subtil. he calls them substantias primas, Olympicos daemones Tritemius, qui praesunt Zodiaco, &c., and will have them to be good angels above, devils beneath the Moon, their several names and offices he there sets down, and which Dionysius of Angels, will have several spirits for several countries, men, offices, &c., which live about them, and as so many assisting powers cause their operations, will have in a word, innumerable, as many of them as there be stars in the skies. [1170]Marcilius Ficinus seems to second this opinion, out of Plato, or from himself, I know not, (still ruling their inferiors, as they do those under them again, all subordinate, and the nearest to the earth rule us, whom we subdivide into good and bad angels, call gods or devils, as they help or hurt us, and so adore, love or hate) but it is most likely from Plato, for he relying wholly on Socrates, quem mori potius quam mentiri voluisse scribit, whom he says would rather die than tell a falsehood, out of Socrates' authority alone, made nine kinds of them: which opinion belike Socrates took from Pythagoras, and he from Trismegistus, he from Zoroastes, first God, second idea, 3. Intelligences, 4. Arch-Angels, 5. Angels, 6. Devils, 7. Heroes, 8. Principalities, 9. Princes: of which some were absolutely good, as gods, some bad, some indifferent inter deos et homines, as heroes and daemons, which ruled men, and were called genii, or as [1171]Proclus and Jamblichus will, the middle betwixt God and men. Principalities and princes, which commanded and swayed kings and countries; and had several places in the spheres perhaps, for as every sphere is higher, so hath it more excellent inhabitants: which belike is that Galilaeus a Galileo and Kepler aims at in his nuncio Syderio, when he will have [1172]Saturnine and Jovial inhabitants: and which Tycho Brahe doth in some sort touch or insinuate in one of his epistles: but these things [1173]Zanchius justly explodes, cap. 3. lib. 4. P. Martyr, in 4. Sam. 28. So that according to these men the number of ethereal spirits must needs be infinite: for if that be true that some of our mathematicians say: if a stone could fall from the starry heaven, or eighth sphere, and should pass every hour an hundred miles, it would be 65 years, or more, before it would come to ground, by reason of the great distance of heaven from earth, which contains as some say 170 millions 800 miles, besides those other heavens, whether they be crystalline or watery which Maginus adds, which peradventure holds as much more, how many such spirits may it contain? And yet for all this [1174]Thomas Albertus, and most hold that there be far more angels than devils. _Sublunary devils, and their kinds._] But be they more or less, Quod supra nos nihil ad nos (what is beyond our comprehension does not concern us). Howsoever as Martianus foolishly supposeth, Aetherii Daemones non curant res humanas, they care not for us, do not attend our actions, or look for us, those ethereal spirits have other worlds to reign in belike or business to follow. We are only now to speak in brief of these sublunary spirits or devils: for the rest, our divines determine that the devil had no power over stars, or heavens; [1175]Carminibus coelo possunt deducere lunam, &C., (by their charms (verses) they can seduce the moon from the heavens). Those are poetical fictions, and that they can [1176]sistere aquam fluviis, et vertere sidera retro, &c., (stop rivers and turn the stars backward in their courses) as Canadia in Horace, 'tis all false. [1177] They are confined until the day of judgment to this sublunary world, and can work no farther than the four elements, and as God permits them. Wherefore of these sublunary devils, though others divide them otherwise according to their several places and offices, Psellus makes six kinds, fiery, aerial, terrestrial, watery, and subterranean devils, besides those fairies, satyrs, nymphs, &c. Fiery spirits or devils are such as commonly work by blazing stars, fire-drakes, or ignes fatui; which lead men often in flumina aut praecipitia, saith Bodine, lib. 2. Theat. Naturae, fol. 221. Quos inquit arcere si volunt viatores, clara voce Deum appellare aut pronam facie terram contingente adorare oportet, et hoc amuletum majoribus nostris acceptum ferre debemus, &c., (whom if travellers wish to keep off they must pronounce the name of God with a clear voice, or adore him with their faces in contact with the ground, &c.); likewise they counterfeit suns and moons, stars oftentimes, and sit on ship masts: In navigiorum summitatibus visuntur; and are called dioscuri, as Eusebius l. contra Philosophos, c. xlviii. informeth us, out of the authority of Zenophanes; or little clouds, ad motum nescio quem volantes; which never appear, saith Cardan, but they signify some mischief or other to come unto men, though some again will have them to pretend good, and victory to that side they come towards in sea fights, St. Elmo's fires they commonly call them, and they do likely appear after a sea storm; Radzivilius, the Polonian duke, calls this apparition, Sancti Germani sidus; and saith moreover that he saw the same after in a storm, as he was sailing, 1582, from Alexandria to Rhodes. [1178]Our stories are full of such apparitions in all kinds. Some think they keep their residence in that Hecla, a mountain in Iceland, Aetna in Sicily, Lipari, Vesuvius, &c. These devils were worshipped heretofore by that superstitious Pyromanteia [1179]and the like. Aerial spirits or devils, are such as keep quarter most part in the [1180] air, cause many tempests, thunder, and lightnings, tear oaks, fire steeples, houses, strike men and beasts, make it rain stones, as in Livy's time, wool, frogs, &c. Counterfeit armies in the air, strange noises, swords, &c., as at Vienna before the coming of the Turks, and many times in Rome, as Scheretzius l. de spect. c. 1. part 1. Lavater de spect. part. 1. c. 17. Julius Obsequens, an old Roman, in his book of prodigies, _ab urb. cond._ 505. [1181]Machiavel hath illustrated by many examples, and Josephus, in his book de bello Judaico, before the destruction of Jerusalem. All which Guil. Postellus, in his first book, c. 7, de orbis concordia, useth as an effectual argument (as indeed it is) to persuade them that will not believe there be spirits or devils. They cause whirlwinds on a sudden, and tempestuous storms; which though our meteorologists generally refer to natural causes, yet I am of Bodine's mind, Theat. Nat. l. 2. they are more often caused by those aerial devils, in their several quarters; for Tempestatibus se ingerunt, saith [1182] Rich. Argentine; as when a desperate man makes away with himself, which by hanging or drowning they frequently do, as Kommanus observes, de mirac. mort. part. 7, c. 76. tripudium agentes, dancing and rejoicing at the death of a sinner. These can corrupt the air, and cause plagues, sickness, storms, shipwrecks, fires, inundations. At Mons Draconis in Italy, there is a most memorable example in [1183]Jovianus Pontanus: and nothing so familiar (if we may believe those relations of Saxo Grammaticus, Olaus Magnus, Damianus A. Goes) as for witches and sorcerers, in Lapland, Lithuania, and all over Scandia, to sell winds to mariners, and cause tempests, which Marcus Paulus the Venetian relates likewise of the Tartars. These kind of devils are much [1184]delighted in sacrifices (saith Porphyry), held all the world in awe, and had several names, idols, sacrifices, in Rome, Greece, Egypt, and at this day tyrannise over, and deceive those Ethnics and Indians, being adored and worshipped for [1185] gods. For the Gentiles' gods were devils (as [1186]Trismegistus confesseth in his Asclepius), and he himself could make them come to their images by magic spells: and are now as much respected by our papists (saith [1187] Pictorius) under the name of saints. These are they which Cardan thinks desire so much carnal copulation with witches (Incubi and Succubi), transform bodies, and are so very cold, if they be touched; and that serve magicians. His father had one of them (as he is not ashamed to relate), [1188]an aerial devil, bound to him for twenty and eight years. As Agrippa's dog had a devil tied to his collar; some think that Paracelsus (or else Erastus belies him) had one confined to his sword pummel; others wear them in rings, &c. Jannes and Jambres did many things of old by their help; Simon Magus, Cinops, Apollonius Tianeus, Jamblichus, and Tritemius of late, that showed Maximilian the emperor his wife, after she was dead; Et verrucam in collo ejus (saith [1189]Godolman) so much as the wart in her neck. Delrio, lib. 2. hath divers examples of their feats: Cicogna, lib. 3. cap. 3. and Wierus in his book de praestig. daemonum. Boissardus de magis et veneficis. Water-devils are those Naiads or water nymphs which have been heretofore conversant about waters and rivers. The water (as Paracelsus thinks) is their chaos, wherein they live; some call them fairies, and say that Habundia is their queen; these cause inundations, many times shipwrecks, and deceive men divers ways, as Succuba, or otherwise, appearing most part (saith Tritemius) in women's shapes. [1190]Paracelsus hath several stories of them that have lived and been married to mortal men, and so continued for certain years with them, and after, upon some dislike, have forsaken them. Such a one as Aegeria, with whom Numa was so familiar, Diana, Ceres, &c. [1191]Olaus Magnus hath a long narration of one Hotherus, a king of Sweden, that having lost his company, as he was hunting one day, met with these water nymphs or fairies, and was feasted by them; and Hector Boethius, or Macbeth, and Banquo, two Scottish lords, that as they were wandering in the woods, had their fortunes told them by three strange women. To these, heretofore, they did use to sacrifice, by that ὑδρομαντέια, or divination by waters. Terrestrial devils are those [1192]Lares, genii, fauns, satyrs, [1193] wood-nymphs, foliots, fairies, Robin Goodfellows, trulli, &c., which as they are most conversant with men, so they do them most harm. Some think it was they alone that kept the heathen people in awe of old, and had so many idols and temples erected to them. Of this range was Dagon amongst the Philistines, Bel amongst the Babylonians, Astartes amongst the Sidonians, Baal amongst the Samaritans, Isis and Osiris amongst the Egyptians, &c.; some put our [1194]fairies into this rank, which have been in former times adored with much superstition, with sweeping their houses, and setting of a pail of clean water, good victuals, and the like, and then they should not be pinched, but find money in their shoes, and be fortunate in their enterprises. These are they that dance on heaths and greens, as [1195] Lavater thinks with Tritemius, and as [1196]Olaus Magnus adds, leave that green circle, which we commonly find in plain fields, which others hold to proceed from a meteor falling, or some accidental rankness of the ground, so nature sports herself; they are sometimes seen by old women and children. Hierom. Pauli, in his description of the city of Bercino in Spain, relates how they have been familiarly seen near that town, about fountains and hills; Nonnunquam (saith Tritemius) in sua latibula montium simpliciores homines ducant, stupenda mirantibus ostentes miracula, nolarum sonitus, spectacula, &c. [1197]Giraldus Cambrensis gives instance in a monk of Wales that was so deluded. [1198]Paracelsus reckons up many places in Germany, where they do usually walk in little coats, some two feet long. A bigger kind there is of them called with us hobgoblins, and Robin Goodfellows, that would in those superstitious times grind corn for a mess of milk, cut wood, or do any manner of drudgery work. They would mend old irons in those Aeolian isles of Lipari, in former ages, and have been often seen and heard. [1199]Tholosanus calls them trullos and Getulos, and saith, that in his days they were common in many places of France. Dithmarus Bleskenius, in his description of Iceland, reports for a certainty, that almost in every family they have yet some such familiar spirits; and Felix Malleolus, in his book de crudel. daemon. affirms as much, that these trolli or telchines are very common in Norway, and [1200] seen to do drudgery work; to draw water, saith Wierus, lib. 1. cap. 22, dress meat, or any such thing. Another sort of these there are, which frequent forlorn [1201]houses, which the Italians call foliots, most part innoxious, [1202]Cardan holds; They will make strange noises in the night, howl sometimes pitifully, and then laugh again, cause great flame and sudden lights, fling stones, rattle chains, shave men, open doors and shut them, fling down platters, stools, chests, sometimes appear in the likeness of hares, crows, black dogs, &c. of which read [1203]Pet Thyraeus the Jesuit, in his Tract, de locis infestis, part. 1. et cap. 4, who will have them to be devils or the souls of damned men that seek revenge, or else souls out of purgatory that seek ease; for such examples peruse [1204] Sigismundus Scheretzius, lib. de spectris, part 1. c. 1. which he saith he took out of Luther most part; there be many instances. [1205]Plinius Secundus remembers such a house at Athens, which Athenodorus the philosopher hired, which no man durst inhabit for fear of devils. Austin, de Civ. Dei. lib. 22, cap. 1. relates as much of Hesperius the Tribune's house, at Zubeda, near their city of Hippos, vexed with evil spirits, to his great hindrance, Cum afflictione animalium et servorum suorum. Many such instances are to be read in Niderius Formicar, lib. 5. cap. xii. 3. &c. Whether I may call these Zim and Ochim, which Isaiah, cap. xiii. 21. speaks of, I make a doubt. See more of these in the said Scheretz. lib. 1. de spect. cap. 4. he is full of examples. These kind of devils many times appear to men, and affright them out of their wits, sometimes walking at [1206]noonday, sometimes at nights, counterfeiting dead men's ghosts, as that of Caligula, which (saith Suetonius) was seen to walk in Lavinia's garden, where his body was buried, spirits haunted, and the house where he died, [1207]Nulla nox sine terrore transacta, donec incendio consumpta; every night this happened, there was no quietness, till the house was burned. About Hecla, in Iceland, ghosts commonly walk, animas mortuorum simulantes, saith Joh. Anan, lib. 3. de nat. daem. Olaus. lib. 2. cap. 2. Natal Tallopid. lib. de apparit. spir. Kornmannus de mirac. mort. part. 1. cap. 44. such sights are frequently seen circa sepulchra et monasteria, saith Lavat. lib. 1. cap. 19. in monasteries and about churchyards, loca paludinosa, ampla aedificia, solitaria, et caede hominum notata, &c. (marshes, great buildings, solitary places, or remarkable as the scene of some murder.) Thyreus adds, ubi gravius peccatum est commissum, impii, pauperum oppressores et nequiter insignes habitant (where some very heinous crime was committed, there the impious and infamous generally dwell). These spirits often foretell men's deaths by several signs, as knocking, groanings, &c. [1208]though Rich. Argentine, c. 18. de praestigiis daemonum, will ascribe these predictions to good angels, out of the authority of Ficinus and others; prodigia in obitu principum saepius contingunt, &c. (prodigies frequently occur at the deaths of illustrious men), as in the Lateran church in [1209]Rome, the popes' deaths are foretold by Sylvester's tomb. Near Rupes Nova in Finland, in the kingdom of Sweden, there is a lake, in which, before the governor of the castle dies, a spectrum, in the habit of Arion with his harp, appears, and makes excellent music, like those blocks in Cheshire, which (they say) presage death to the master of the family; or that [1210]oak in Lanthadran park in Cornwall, which foreshows as much. Many families in Europe are so put in mind of their last by such predictions, and many men are forewarned (if we may believe Paracelsus) by familiar spirits in divers shapes, as cocks, crows, owls, which often hover about sick men's chambers, vel quia morientium foeditatem sentiunt, as [1211]Baracellus conjectures, et ideo super tectum infirmorum crocitant, because they smell a corse; or for that (as [1212]Bernardinus de Bustis thinketh) God permits the devil to appear in the form of crows, and such like creatures, to scare such as live wickedly here on earth. A little before Tully's death (saith Plutarch) the crows made a mighty noise about him, tumultuose perstrepentes, they pulled the pillow from under his head. Rob. Gaguinus, hist. Franc. lib. 8, telleth such another wonderful story at the death of Johannes de Monteforti, a French lord, _anno_ 1345, tanta corvorum multitudo aedibus morientis insedit, quantam esse in Gallia nemo judicasset (a multitude of crows alighted on the house of the dying man, such as no one imagined existed in France). Such prodigies are very frequent in authors. See more of these in the said Lavater, Thyreus de locis infestis, part 3, cap. 58. Pictorius, Delrio, Cicogna, lib. 3, cap. 9. Necromancers take upon them to raise and lay them at their pleasures: and so likewise, those which Mizaldus calls ambulones, that walk about midnight on great heaths and desert places, which (saith [1213]Lavater) draw men out of the way, and lead them all night a byway, or quite bar them of their way; these have several names in several places; we commonly call them Pucks. In the deserts of Lop, in Asia, such illusions of walking spirits are often perceived, as you may read in M. Paulus the Venetian his travels; if one lose his company by chance, these devils will call him by his name, and counterfeit voices of his companions to seduce him. Hieronym. Pauli, in his book of the hills of Spain, relates of a great [1214]mount in Cantabria, where such spectrums are to be seen; Lavater and Cicogna have variety of examples of spirits and walking devils in this kind. Sometimes they sit by the highway side, to give men falls, and make their horses stumble and start as they ride (if you will believe the relation of that holy man Ketellus in [1215]Nubrigensis), that had an especial grace to see devils, Gratiam divinitus collatam, and talk with them, Et impavidus cum spiritibus sermonem miscere, without offence, and if a man curse or spur his horse for stumbling, they do heartily rejoice at it; with many such pretty feats. Subterranean devils are as common as the rest, and do as much harm. Olaus Magnus, lib. 6, cap. 19, make six kinds of them; some bigger, some less. These (saith [1216]Munster) are commonly seen about mines of metals, and are some of them noxious; some again do no harm. The metal-men in many places account it good luck, a sign of treasure and rich ore when they see them. Georgius Agricola, in his book de subterraneis animantibus, cap. 37, reckons two more notable kinds of them, which he calls [1217]getuli and cobali, both are clothed after the manner of metal-men, and will many times imitate their works. Their office, as Pictorius and Paracelsus think, is to keep treasure in the earth, that it be not all at once revealed; and besides, [1218]Cicogna avers that they are the frequent causes of those horrible earthquakes which often swallow up, not only houses, but whole islands and cities; in his third book, cap. 11, he gives many instances. The last are conversant about the centre of the earth to torture the souls of damned men to the day of judgment; their egress and regress some suppose to be about Etna, Lipari, Mons Hecla in Iceland, Vesuvius, Terra del Fuego, &c., because many shrieks and fearful cries are continually heard thereabouts, and familiar apparitions of dead men, ghosts and goblins. _Their Offices, Operations, Study_.] Thus the devil reigns, and in a thousand several shapes, as a roaring lion still seeks whom he may devour, 1 Pet. v., by sea, land, air, as yet unconfined, though [1219] some will have his proper place the air; all that space between us and the moon for them that transgressed least, and hell for the wickedest of them, Hic velut in carcere ad finem mundi, tunc in locum funestiorum trudendi, as Austin holds de Civit. Dei, c. 22, lib. 14, cap. 3 et 23; but be where he will, he rageth while he may to comfort himself, as [1220] Lactantius thinks, with other men's falls, he labours all he can to bring them into the same pit of perdition with him. For [1221]men's miseries, calamities, and ruins are the devil's banqueting dishes. By many temptations and several engines, he seeks to captivate our souls. The Lord of Lies, saith [1222]Austin, as he was deceived himself, he seeks to deceive others, the ringleader to all naughtiness, as he did by Eve and Cain, Sodom and Gomorrah, so would he do by all the world. Sometimes he tempts by covetousness, drunkenness, pleasure, pride, &c., errs, dejects, saves, kills, protects, and rides some men, as they do their horses. He studies our overthrow, and generally seeks our destruction; and although he pretend many times human good, and vindicate himself for a god by curing of several diseases, aegris sanitatem, et caecis luminis usum restituendo, as Austin declares, lib. 10, de civit Dei, cap. 6, as Apollo, Aesculapius, Isis, of old have done; divert plagues, assist them in wars, pretend their happiness, yet nihil his impurius, scelestius, nihil humano generi infestius, nothing so impure, nothing so pernicious, as may well appear by their tyrannical and bloody sacrifices of men to Saturn and Moloch, which are still in use among those barbarous Indians, their several deceits and cozenings to keep men in obedience, their false oracles, sacrifices, their superstitious impositions of fasts, penury, &c. Heresies, superstitious observations of meats, times, &c., by which they [1223] crucify the souls of mortal men, as shall be showed in our Treatise of Religious Melancholy. Modico adhuc tempore sinitur malignari, as [1224] Bernard expresseth it, by God's permission he rageth a while, hereafter to be confined to hell and darkness, which is prepared for him and his angels, Mat. xxv. How far their power doth extend it is hard to determine; what the ancients held of their effects, force and operations, I will briefly show you: Plato in Critias, and after him his followers, gave out that these spirits or devils, were men's governors and keepers, our lords and masters, as we are of our cattle. [1225]They govern provinces and kingdoms by oracles, auguries, dreams, rewards and punishments, prophecies, inspirations, sacrifices, and religious superstitions, varied in as many forms as there be diversity of spirits; they send wars, plagues, peace, sickness, health, dearth, plenty, [1226]Adstantes hic jam nobis, spectantes, et arbitrantes, &c. as appears by those histories of Thucydides, Livius, Dionysius Halicarnassus, with many others that are full of their wonderful stratagems, and were therefore by those Roman and Greek commonwealths adored and worshipped for gods with prayers and sacrifices, &c. [1227]In a word, Nihil magis quaerunt quam metum et admirationem hominum; [1228]and as another hath it, Dici non potest, quam impotenti ardore in homines dominium, et Divinos cultus maligni spiritus affectent. [1229]Tritemius in his book de septem secundis, assigns names to such angels as are governors of particular provinces, by what authority I know not, and gives them several jurisdictions. Asclepiades a Grecian, Rabbi Achiba the Jew, Abraham Avenezra, and Rabbi Azariel, Arabians, (as I find them cited by [1230]Cicogna) farther add, that they are not our governors only, Sed ex eorum concordia et discordia, boni et mali affectus promanant, but as they agree, so do we and our princes, or disagree; stand or fall. Juno was a bitter enemy to Troy, Apollo a good friend, Jupiter indifferent, Aequa Venus Teucris, Pallas iniqua fuit; some are for us still, some against us, Premente Deo, fert Deus alter opem. Religion, policy, public and private quarrels, wars are procured by them, and they are [1231]delighted perhaps to see men fight, as men are with cocks, bulls and dogs, bears, &c., plagues, dearths depend on them, our bene and male esse, and almost all our other peculiar actions, (for as Anthony Rusea contends, lib. 5, cap. 18, every man hath a good and a bad angel attending on him in particular, all his life long, which Jamblichus calls daemonem,) preferments, losses, weddings, deaths, rewards and punishments, and as [1232]Proclus will, all offices whatsoever, alii genetricem, alii opificem potestatem habent, &c. and several names they give them according to their offices, as Lares, Indegites, Praestites, &c. When the Arcades in that battle at Cheronae, which was fought against King Philip for the liberty of Greece, had deceitfully carried themselves, long after, in the very same place, Diis Graeciae, ultoribus (saith mine author) they were miserably slain by Metellus the Roman: so likewise, in smaller matters, they will have things fall out, as these boni and mali genii favour or dislike us: Saturni non conveniunt Jovialibus, &c. He that is Saturninus shall never likely be preferred. [1233]That base fellows are often advanced, undeserving Gnathoes, and vicious parasites, whereas discreet, wise, virtuous and worthy men are neglected and unrewarded; they refer to those domineering spirits, or subordinate Genii; as they are inclined, or favour men, so they thrive, are ruled and overcome; for as [1234]Libanius supposeth in our ordinary conflicts and contentions, Genius Genio cedit et obtemperat, one genius yields and is overcome by another. All particular events almost they refer to these private spirits; and (as Paracelsus adds) they direct, teach, inspire, and instruct men. Never was any man extraordinary famous in any art, action, or great commander, that had not familiarem daemonem to inform him, as Numa, Socrates, and many such, as Cardan illustrates, cap. 128, Arcanis prudentiae civilis, [1235] Speciali siquidem gratia, se a Deo donari asserunt magi, a Geniis caelestibus instrui, ab iis doceri. But these are most erroneous paradoxes, ineptae et fabulosae nugae, rejected by our divines and Christian churches. 'Tis true they have, by God's permission, power over us, and we find by experience, that they can [1236]hurt not our fields only, cattle, goods, but our bodies and minds. At Hammel in Saxony, _An._ 1484. 20 _Junii_, the devil, in likeness of a pied piper, carried away 130 children that were never after seen. Many times men are [1237]affrighted out of their wits, carried away quite, as Scheretzius illustrates, lib. 1, c. iv., and severally molested by his means, Plotinus the Platonist, lib. 14, advers. Gnos. laughs them to scorn, that hold the devil or spirits can cause any such diseases. Many think he can work upon the body, but not upon the mind. But experience pronounceth otherwise, that he can work both upon body and mind. Tertullian is of this opinion, c. 22. [1238]That he can cause both sickness and health, and that secretly. [1239]Taurellus adds by clancular poisons he can infect the bodies, and hinder the operations of the bowels, though we perceive it not, closely creeping into them, saith [1240]Lipsius, and so crucify our souls: Et nociva melancholia furiosos efficit. For being a spiritual body, he struggles with our spirits, saith Rogers, and suggests (according to [1241]Cardan, verba sine voce, species sine visu, envy, lust, anger, &c.) as he sees men inclined. The manner how he performs it, Biarmannus in his Oration against Bodine, sufficiently declares. [1242]He begins first with the phantasy, and moves that so strongly, that no reason is able to resist. Now the phantasy he moves by mediation of humours; although many physicians are of opinion, that the devil can alter the mind, and produce this disease of himself. Quibusdam medicorum visum, saith [1243]Avicenna, quod Melancholia contingat a daemonio. Of the same mind is Psellus and Rhasis the Arab. lib. 1. Tract. 9. Cont. [1244]That this disease proceeds especially from the devil, and from him alone. Arculanus, cap. 6. in 9. Rhasis, Aelianus Montaltus, in his 9. cap. Daniel Sennertus, lib. 1. part. 2. cap. 11. confirm as much, that the devil can cause this disease; by reason many times that the parties affected prophesy, speak strange language, but non sine interventu humoris, not without the humour, as he interprets himself; no more doth Avicenna, si contingat a daemonio, sufficit nobis ut convertat complexionem ad choleram nigram, et sit causa ejus propinqua cholera nigra; the immediate cause is choler adust, which [1245] Pomponatius likewise labours to make good: Galgerandus of Mantua, a famous physician, so cured a demoniacal woman in his time, that spake all languages, by purging black choler, and thereupon belike this humour of melancholy is called balneum diaboli, the devil's bath; the devil spying his opportunity of such humours drives them many times to despair, fury, rage, &c., mingling himself among these humours. This is that which Tertullian avers, Corporibus infligunt acerbos casus, animaeque repentinos, membra distorquent, occulte repentes, &c. and which Lemnius goes about to prove, Immiscent se mali Genii pravis humoribus, atque atrae, bili, &c. And [1246]Jason Pratensis, that the devil, being a slender incomprehensible spirit, can easily insinuate and wind himself into human bodies, and cunningly couched in our bowels vitiate our healths, terrify our souls with fearful dreams, and shake our minds with furies. And in another place, These unclean spirits settled in our bodies, and now mixed with our melancholy humours, do triumph as it were, and sport themselves as in another heaven. Thus he argues, and that they go in and out of our bodies, as bees do in a hive, and so provoke and tempt us as they perceive our temperature inclined of itself, and most apt to be deluded. [1247] Agrippa and [1248]Lavater are persuaded, that this humour invites the devil to it, wheresoever it is in extremity, and of all other, melancholy persons are most subject to diabolical temptations and illusions, and most apt to entertain them, and the Devil best able to work upon them. But whether by obsession, or possession, or otherwise, I will not determine; 'tis a difficult question. Delrio the Jesuit, Tom. 3. lib. 6. Springer and his colleague, mall. malef. Pet. Thyreus the Jesuit, lib. de daemoniacis, de locis infestis, de Terrificationibus nocturnis, Hieronymus Mengus Flagel. daem. and others of that rank of pontifical writers, it seems, by their exorcisms and conjurations approve of it, having forged many stories to that purpose. A nun did eat a lettuce [1249]without grace, or signing it with the sign of the cross, and was instantly possessed. Durand. lib. 6. Rationall. c. 86. numb. 8. relates that he saw a wench possessed in Bononia with two devils, by eating an unhallowed pomegranate, as she did afterwards confess, when she was cured by exorcisms. And therefore our Papists do sign themselves so often with the sign of the cross, Ne daemon ingredi ausit, and exorcise all manner of meats, as being unclean or accursed otherwise, as Bellarmine defends. Many such stories I find amongst pontifical writers, to prove their assertions, let them free their own credits; some few I will recite in this kind out of most approved physicians. Cornelius Gemma, lib. 2. de nat. mirac. c. 4. relates of a young maid, called Katherine Gualter, a cooper's daughter, _an._ 1571. that had such strange passions and convulsions, three men could not sometimes hold her; she purged a live eel, which he saw, a foot and a half long, and touched it himself; but the eel afterwards vanished; she vomited some twenty-four pounds of fulsome stuff of all colours, twice a day for fourteen days; and after that she voided great balls of hair, pieces of wood, pigeon's dung, parchment, goose dung, coals; and after them two pounds of pure blood, and then again coals and stones, or which some had inscriptions bigger than a walnut, some of them pieces of glass, brass, &c. besides paroxysms of laughing, weeping and ecstasies, &c. Et hoc (inquit) cum horore vidi, this I saw with horror. They could do no good on her by physic, but left her to the clergy. Marcellus Donatus, lib. 2. c. 1. de med. mirab. hath such another story of a country fellow, that had four knives in his belly, Instar serrae dentatos, indented like a saw, every one a span long, and a wreath of hair like a globe, with much baggage of like sort, wonderful to behold: how it should come into his guts, he concludes, Certe non alio quam daemonis astutia et dolo, (could assuredly only have been through the artifice of the devil). Langius, Epist. med. lib. 1. Epist. 38. hath many relations to this effect, and so hath Christophorus a Vega: Wierus, Skenkius, Scribanius, all agree that they are done by the subtlety and illusion of the devil. If you shall ask a reason of this, 'tis to exercise our patience; for as [1250]Tertullian holds, Virtus non est virtus, nisi comparem habet aliquem, in quo superando vim suam ostendat 'tis to try us and our faith, 'tis for our offences, and for the punishment of our sins, by God's permission they do it, Carnifices vindictae justae Dei, as [1251]Tolosanus styles them, Executioners of his will; or rather as David, Ps. 78. ver. 49. He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, indignation, wrath, and vexation, by sending out of evil angels: so did he afflict Job, Saul, the Lunatics and demoniacal persons whom Christ cured, Mat. iv. 8. Luke iv. 11. Luke xiii. Mark ix. Tobit. viii. 3. &c. This, I say, happeneth for a punishment of sin, for their want of faith, incredulity, weakness, distrust, &c.

SUBSECT. III.—_Of Witches and Magicians, how they cause Melancholy_.

You have heard what the devil can do of himself, now you shall hear what he can perform by his instruments, who are many times worse (if it be possible) than he himself, and to satisfy their revenge and lust cause more mischief, Multa enim mala non egisset daemon, nisi provocatus a sagis, as [1252]Erastus thinks; much harm had never been done, had he not been provoked by witches to it. He had not appeared in Samuel's shape, if the Witch of Endor had let him alone; or represented those serpents in Pharaoh's presence, had not the magicians urged him unto it; Nec morbos vel hominibus, vel brutis infligeret (Erastus maintains) si sagae quiescerent; men and cattle might go free, if the witches would let him alone. Many deny witches at all, or if there be any they can do no harm; of this opinion is Wierus, lib. 3. cap. 53. de praestig. daem. Austin Lerchemer a Dutch writer, Biarmanus, Ewichius, Euwaldus, our countryman Scot; with him in Horace, Somnia, terrores Magicos, miracula, sagas, Nocturnos Lemures, portentaque Thessala risu Excipiunt.———

Say, can you laugh indignant at the schemes Of magic terrors, visionary dreams, Portentous wonders, witching imps of Hell, The nightly goblin, and enchanting spell?

They laugh at all such stories; but on the contrary are most lawyers, divines, physicians, philosophers, Austin, Hemingius, Danaeus, Chytraeus, Zanchius, Aretius, &c. Delrio, Springer, [1253]Niderius, lib. 5. Fornicar. Guiatius, Bartolus, consil. 6. tom. 1. Bodine, daemoniant. lib 2. cap. 8. Godelman, Damhoderius, &c. Paracelsus, Erastus, Scribanius, Camerarius, &c. The parties by whom the devil deals, may be reduced to these two, such as command him in show at least, as conjurors, and magicians, whose detestable and horrid mysteries are contained in their book called [1254]Arbatell; daemonis enim advocati praesto sunt, seque exorcismis et conjurationibus quasi cogi patiuntur, ut miserum magorum genus, in impietate detineant. Or such as are commanded, as witches, that deal ex parte implicite, or explicite, as the [1255]king hath well defined; many subdivisions there are, and many several species of sorcerers, witches, enchanters, charmers, &c. They have been tolerated heretofore some of them; and magic hath been publicly professed in former times, in [1256]Salamanca, [1257]Krakow, and other places, though after censured by several [1258]Universities, and now generally contradicted, though practised by some still, maintained and excused, Tanquam res secreta quae non nisi viris magnis et peculiari beneficio de Coelo instructis communicatur (I use [1259]Boesartus his words) and so far approved by some princes, Ut nihil ausi aggredi in politicis, in sacris, in consiliis, sine eorum arbitrio; they consult still with them, and dare indeed do nothing without their advice. Nero and Heliogabalus, Maxentius, and Julianus Apostata, were never so much addicted to magic of old, as some of our modern princes and popes themselves are nowadays. Erricus, King of Sweden, had an [1260]enchanted cap, by virtue of which, and some magical murmur or whispering terms, he could command spirits, trouble the air, and make the wind stand which way he would, insomuch that when there was any great wind or storm, the common people were wont to say, the king now had on his conjuring cap. But such examples are infinite. That which they can do, is as much almost as the devil himself, who is still ready to satisfy their desires, to oblige them the more unto him. They can cause tempests, storms, which is familiarly practised by witches in Norway, Iceland, as I have proved. They can make friends enemies, and enemies friends by philters; [1261]Turpes amores conciliare, enforce love, tell any man where his friends are, about what employed, though in the most remote places; and if they will, [1262]bring their sweethearts to them by night, upon a goat's back flying in the air. Sigismund Scheretzius, part. 1. cap. 9. de spect. reports confidently, that he conferred with sundry such, that had been so carried many miles, and that he heard witches themselves confess as much; hurt and infect men and beasts, vines, corn, cattle, plants, make women abortive, not to conceive, [1263]barren, men and women unapt and unable, married and unmarried, fifty several ways, saith Bodine, lib. 2. c. 2. fly in the air, meet when and where they will, as Cicogna proves, and Lavat. de spec. part. 2. c. 17. steal young children out of their cradles, ministerio daemonum, and put deformed in their rooms, which we call changelings, saith [1264]Scheretzius, part. 1. c. 6. make men victorious, fortunate, eloquent; and therefore in those ancient monomachies and combats they were searched of old, [1265]they had no magical charms; they can make [1266]stick frees, such as shall endure a rapier's point, musket shot, and never be wounded: of which read more in Boissardus, cap. 6. de Magia, the manner of the adjuration, and by whom 'tis made, where and how to be used in expeditionibus bellicis, praeliis, duellis, &c., with many peculiar instances and examples; they can walk in fiery furnaces, make men feel no pain on the rack, aut alias torturas sentire; they can stanch blood, [1267]represent dead men's shapes, alter and turn themselves and others into several forms, at their pleasures. [1268]Agaberta, a famous witch in Lapland, would do as much publicly to all spectators, Modo Pusilla, modo anus, modo procera ut quercus, modo vacca, avis, coluber, &c. Now young, now old, high, low, like a cow, like a bird, a snake, and what not? She could represent to others what forms they most desired to see, show them friends absent, reveal secrets, maxima omnium admiratione, &c. And yet for all this subtlety of theirs, as Lipsius well observes, Physiolog. Stoicor. lib. 1. cap. 17. neither these magicians nor devils themselves can take away gold or letters out of mine or Crassus' chest, et Clientelis suis largiri, for they are base, poor, contemptible fellows most part; as [1269]Bodine notes, they can do nothing in Judicum decreta aut poenas, in regum concilia vel arcana, nihil in rem nummariam aut thesauros, they cannot give money to their clients, alter judges' decrees, or councils of kings, these minuti Genii cannot do it, altiores Genii hoc sibi adservarunt, the higher powers reserve these things to themselves. Now and then peradventure there may be some more famous magicians like Simon Magus, [1270]Apollonius Tyaneus, Pasetes, Jamblichus, [1271]Odo de Stellis, that for a time can build castles in the air, represent armies, &c., as they are [1272]said to have done, command wealth and treasure, feed thousands with all variety of meats upon a sudden, protect themselves and their followers from all princes' persecutions, by removing from place to place in an instant, reveal secrets, future events, tell what is done in far countries, make them appear that died long since, and do many such miracles, to the world's terror, admiration and opinion of deity to themselves, yet the devil forsakes them at last, they come to wicked ends, and raro aut nunquam such impostors are to be found. The vulgar sort of them can work no such feats. But to my purpose, they can, last of all, cure and cause most diseases to such as they love or hate, and this of [1273]melancholy amongst the rest. Paracelsus, Tom. 4. de morbis amentium, Tract. 1. in express words affirms; Multi fascinantur in melancholiam, many are bewitched into melancholy, out of his experience. The same saith Danaeus, lib. 3. de sortiariis. Vidi, inquit, qui Melancholicos morbos gravissimos induxerunt: I have seen those that have caused melancholy in the most grievous manner, [1274]dried up women's paps, cured gout, palsy; this and apoplexy, falling sickness, which no physic could help, solu tactu, by touch alone. Ruland in his 3 Cent. Cura 91. gives an instance of one David Helde, a young man, who by eating cakes which a witch gave him, mox delirare coepit, began to dote on a sudden, and was instantly mad: F. H. D. in [1275]Hildesheim, consulted about a melancholy man, thought his disease was partly magical, and partly natural, because he vomited pieces of iron and lead, and spake such languages as he had never been taught; but such examples are common in Scribanius, Hercules de Saxonia, and others. The means by which they work are usually charms, images, as that in Hector Boethius of King Duffe; characters stamped of sundry metals, and at such and such constellations, knots, amulets, words, philters, &c., which generally make the parties affected, melancholy; as [1276]Monavius discourseth at large in an epistle of his to Acolsius, giving instance in a Bohemian baron that was so troubled by a philter taken. Not that there is any power at all in those spells, charms, characters, and barbarous words; but that the devil doth use such means to delude them. Ut fideles inde magos (saith [1277]Libanius) in officio retineat, tum in consortium malefactorum vocet.

SUBSECT. IV.—_Stars a cause. Signs from Physiognomy, Metoposcopy, Chiromancy_.

Natural causes are either primary and universal, or secondary and more particular. Primary causes are the heavens, planets, stars, &c., by their influence (as our astrologers hold) producing this and such like effects. I will not here stand to discuss obiter, whether stars be causes, or signs; or to apologise for judical astrology. If either Sextus Empericus, Picus Mirandula, Sextus ab Heminga, Pererius, Erastus, Chambers, &c., have so far prevailed with any man, that he will attribute no virtue at all to the heavens, or to sun, or moon, more than he doth to their signs at an innkeeper's post, or tradesman's shop, or generally condemn all such astrological aphorisms approved by experience: I refer him to Bellantius, Pirovanus, Marascallerus, Goclenius, Sir Christopher Heidon, &c. If thou shalt ask me what I think, I must answer, nam et doctis hisce erroribus versatus sum, (for I am conversant with these learned errors,) they do incline, but not compel; no necessity at all: [1278]agunt non cogunt: and so gently incline, that a wise man may resist them; sapiens dominabitur astris: they rule us, but God rules them. All this (methinks) [1279]Joh. de Indagine hath comprised in brief, Quaeris a me quantum in nobis operantur astra? &c. Wilt thou know how far the stars work upon us? I say they do but incline, and that so gently, that if we will be ruled by reason, they have no power over us; but if we follow our own nature, and be led by sense, they do as much in us as in brute beasts, and we are no better. So that, I hope, I may justly conclude with [1280]Cajetan, Coelum est vehiculum divinae virtutis, &c., that the heaven is God's instrument, by mediation of which he governs and disposeth these elementary bodies; or a great book, whose letters are the stars, (as one calls it,) wherein are written many strange things for such as can read, [1281]or an excellent harp, made by an eminent workman, on which, he that can but play, will make most admirable music. But to the purpose. [1282]Paracelsus is of opinion, that a physician without the knowledge of stars can neither understand the cause or cure of any disease, either of this or gout, not so much as toothache; except he see the peculiar geniture and scheme of the party effected. And for this proper malady, he will have the principal and primary cause of it proceed from the heaven, ascribing more to stars than humours, [1283]and that the constellation alone many times produceth melancholy, all other causes set apart. He gives instance in lunatic persons, that are deprived of their wits by the moon's motion; and in another place refers all to the ascendant, and will have the true and chief cause of it to be sought from the stars. Neither is it his opinion only, but of many Galenists and philosophers, though they do not so peremptorily maintain as much. This variety of melancholy symptoms proceeds from the stars, saith [1284]Melancthon: the most generous melancholy, as that of Augustus, comes from the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Libra: the bad, as that of Catiline's, from the meeting of Saturn and the moon in Scorpio. Jovianus Pontanus, in his tenth book, and thirteenth chapter de rebus coelestibus, discourseth to this purpose at large, Ex atra bile varii generantur morbi, &c., [1285]many diseases proceed from black choler, as it shall be hot or cold; and though it be cold in its own nature, yet it is apt to be heated, as water may be made to boil, and burn as bad as fire; or made cold as ice: and thence proceed such variety of symptoms, some mad, some solitary, some laugh, some rage, &c. The cause of all which intemperance he will have chiefly and primarily proceed from the heavens, [1286]from the position of Mars, Saturn, and Mercury. His aphorisms be these, [1287]Mercury in any geniture, if he shall be found in Virgo, or Pisces his opposite sign, and that in the horoscope, irradiated by those quartile aspects of Saturn or Mars, the child shall be mad or melancholy. Again, [1288]He that shall have Saturn and Mars, the one culminating, the other in the fourth house, when he shall be born, shall be melancholy, of which he shall be cured in time, if Mercury behold them. [1289]If the moon be in conjunction or opposition at the birth time with the sun, Saturn or Mars, or in a quartile aspect with them, (e malo coeli loco, Leovitius adds,) many diseases are signified, especially the head and brain is like to be misaffected with pernicious humours, to be melancholy, lunatic, or mad, Cardan adds, quarta luna natos, eclipses, earthquakes. Garcaeus and Leovitius will have the chief judgment to be taken from the lord of the geniture, or where there is an aspect between the moon and Mercury, and neither behold the horoscope, or Saturn and Mars shall be lord of the present conjunction or opposition in Sagittarius or Pisces, of the sun or moon, such persons are commonly epileptic, dote, demoniacal, melancholy: but see more of these aphorisms in the above-named Pontanus. Garcaeus, cap. 23. de Jud. genitur. Schoner. lib. 1. cap. 8, which he hath gathered out of [1290]Ptolemy, Albubater, and some other Arabians, Junctine, Ranzovius, Lindhout, Origen, &c. But these men you will reject peradventure, as astrologers, and therefore partial judges; then hear the testimony of physicians, Galenists themselves. [1291]Carto confesseth the influence of stars to have a great hand to this peculiar disease, so doth Jason Pratensis, Lonicerius praefat. de Apoplexia, Ficinus, Fernelius, &c. [1292]P. Cnemander acknowledgeth the stars an universal cause, the particular from parents, and the use of the six non-natural things. Baptista Port. mag. l. 1. c. 10, 12, 15, will have them causes to every particular individium. Instances and examples, to evince the truth of those aphorisms, are common amongst those astrologian treatises. Cardan, in his thirty-seventh geniture, gives instance in Matth. Bolognius. Camerar. hor. natalit. centur. 7. genit. 6. et 7. of Daniel Gare, and others; but see Garcaeus, cap. 33. Luc. Gauricus, Tract. 6. de Azemenis, &c. The time of this melancholy is, when the significators of any geniture are directed according to art, as the hor: moon, hylech, &c. to the hostile beams or terms of &♄ and ♂ especially, or any fixed star of their nature, or if &♄ by his revolution or transitus, shall offend any of those radical promissors in the geniture. Other signs there are taken from physiognomy, metoposcopy, chiromancy, which because Joh. de Indagine, and Rotman, the landgrave of Hesse his mathematician, not long since in his Chiromancy; Baptista Porta, in his celestial Physiognomy, have proved to hold great affinity with astrology, to satisfy the curious, I am the more willing to insert. The general notions [1293]physiognomers give, be these; black colour argues natural melancholy; so doth leanness, hirsuteness, broad veins, much hair on the brows, saith [1294]Gratanarolus, cap. 7, and a little head, out of Aristotle, high sanguine, red colour, shows head melancholy; they that stutter and are bald, will be soonest melancholy, (as Avicenna supposeth,) by reason of the dryness of their brains; but he that will know more of the several signs of humour and wits out of physiognomy, let him consult with old Adamantus and Polemus, that comment, or rather paraphrase upon Aristotle's Physiognomy, Baptista Porta's four pleasant books, Michael Scot de secretis naturae, John de Indagine, Montaltus, Antony Zara. anat. ingeniorum, sect. 1. memb. 13. et lib. 4. Chiromancy hath these aphorisms to foretell melancholy, Tasneir. lib. 5. cap. 2, who hath comprehended the sum of John de Indagine: Tricassus, Corvinus, and others in his book, thus hath it; [1295]The Saturnine line going from the rascetta through the hand, to Saturn's mount, and there intersected by certain little lines, argues melancholy; so if the vital and natural make an acute angle, Aphorism 100. The saturnine, hepatic, and natural lines, making a gross triangle in the hand, argue as much; which Goclenius, cap. 5. Chiros. repeats verbatim out of him. In general they conclude all, that if Saturn's mount be full of many small lines and intersections, [1296]such men are most part melancholy, miserable and full of disquietness, care and trouble, continually vexed with anxious and bitter thoughts, always sorrowful, fearful, suspicious; they delight in husbandry, buildings, pools, marshes, springs, woods, walks, &c. Thaddaeus Haggesius, in his Metoposcopia, hath certain aphorisms derived from Saturn's lines in the forehead, by which he collects a melancholy disposition; and [1297]Baptista Porta makes observations from those other parts of the body, as if a spot be over the spleen; [1298]or in the nails; if it appear black, it signifieth much care, grief, contention, and melancholy; the reason he refers to the humours, and gives instance in himself, that for seven years space he had such black spots in his nails, and all that while was in perpetual lawsuits, controversies for his inheritance, fear, loss of honour, banishment, grief, care, &c. and when his miseries ended, the black spots vanished. Cardan, in his book de libris propriis, tells such a story of his own person, that a little before his son's death, he had a black spot, which appeared in one of his nails; and dilated itself as he came nearer to his end. But I am over tedious in these toys, which howsoever, in some men's too severe censures, they may be held absurd and ridiculous, I am the bolder to insert, as not borrowed from circumforanean rogues and gipsies, but out of the writings of worthy philosophers and physicians, yet living some of them, and religious professors in famous universities, who are able to patronise that which they have said, and vindicate themselves from all cavillers and ignorant persons.

SUBSECT. V.—_Old age a cause_.