Chapter IV

MIXTURE OF ANCIENT AND MODERN SUPERSTITIONS.

Astrology 507

Its extension and influence 508

Its opponents in Italy 515

Pico’s opposition and influence 516

Various superstitions 518

Superstition of the Humanists 519

Ghosts of the departed 522

Belief in dæmons 523

The Italian witch 524

Witches’ nest at Norcia 526

Influence and limits of Northern witchcraft 528

Witchcraft of the prostitutes 529

The magicians and enchanters 530

The dæmons on the way to Rome 531

Special forms of magic: the Telesmata 533

Magic at the laying of foundation-stones 534

The necromancer in poetry 535

Benvenuto Cellini’s tale 536

Decline of magic 537

Special branches of the superstition 538

CHAPTER V.

GENERAL DISINTEGRATION OF BELIEF.

Last confession of Boscoli 543

Religious disorder and general scepticism 543

Controversy as to immortality 545

The pagan heaven 545

The Homeric life to come 546

Evaporation of Christian doctrine 547

Italian Thei 548

_PART I._

THE STATE AS A WORK OF ART.

CHAPTER I.