Chapter V: Part 5

The same period which saw the bull of Innocentius promulgated, and the belief in devils culminate in the witch-processes, gave birth to the _renaissance_. This saviour came to the world in the hour of its intensest need. The Hellenic spirit, born again from the study of classic literature and classic art, was a new Messias putting his heel on the head of the old serpent and saving humanity from the power of death and of the devil. The people sitting in darkness illumined only by the lurid flames kindled by the inquisition saw a great light and stretched their hands towards the new dawn. The study of the ancients had an immense influence, all the more as the actual world was so different from the antique world. The exhumed monuments of Hellas revealed other state systems than the feudal of the Middle Ages,--states which were organizations, not mere mechanical conglomerates of conquerors and conquered, and were founded upon a nobler basis than given or assumed privileges. These monuments revealed an independent search for truth which had placed itself above tradition--a novel spectacle to the people of the Middle Ages! They revealed an art in which harmony reigned between spirit and nature, between the higher life and sensuousness, between the relative opposites which the Middle Ages had conceived as absolute, placing them against one another in a struggle which wrecked beauty and morality. They revealed large symmetrical characters as free from the asceticism of the Middle Ages as from the wild sensuality of that time. All these ideas, hailed with enthusiasm, could not but transform the appearance of the world. They overthrew the darkness of the Middle Ages, put the devil and hell to flight, and drove them into that lumber-corner of the spiritual kingdom where they are at present, but from which, at any political reaction, they peer out eagerly watching whether they may not once more bring the great wide world into their power. But they shall scarcely succeed in this, as long as freedom of thought and scientific independence are guarded as the foremost conditions of the spiritual health of mankind; and they shall utterly fail when an all-extended intelligence has taught the people that the premises of the devil-dogma, if they could be again inoculated into the popular mind, would show anew the same results which have been depicted above, and lead us back to the terrible times of the inquisition and the burning of witches. This, no doubt, even the orthodox defenders of belief in an impersonated evil principle do not desire; but they do not observe that history acts more consistently than they, and cures general errors only by making long generations draw from them the last consequences and suffer their full effect.

THE END.

INDEX.

Adam's sin, brings countless woes on man, 12.

Agnus Dei, 63;
its power, 64.

Ahriman, affirmed to have been Judaized in "Satan," 35;
repelled at Marathon, 36;
his power over man limited, 47;
author of _black_ magic, 54.

Alexander, conquers Asia, but helps the triumph of dualism, 37.

Ammonius Sacca, tries to restore Neoplatonism, 40.

Amulets employed in Church-magic, 62, 63.

Angels, belong to the lowest hierarchy, 5;
have the care of mortals, 6.

Appolonius of Tyana, deemed the peer of Christ in gift of miracles, 40,
163.

Archangels, part of the lowest hierarchy, 5;
protect religion, 6.

Archetypes, world of, _i. e._, the Empyrean, 1;
all celestial things are in the Empyrean; are immaterial, 6.

Aristotle's method revives science, 44.

Astrology, introduction to (Table II. of correspondences), 127.

Atmosphere of earth situate next below space of the moon, 2.

Augustine, a Manicheian, 43;
last of the fathers educated in philosophy, 44;
quoted on baptism, 57;
quoted on the existence of fauns, satyrs, etc., 162;
believes in the existence of were-wolves, 206.

Baptism, copied, in anticipation, in the Mithras mysteries, 57.

Baptismal water, its various efficacy, 58.

Bartholomeus Chassaneus, instructs how to proceed in the courts against
common pests, 78.

Benoit de Montferrand, bishop of Lausanne, excommunicates may-bugs, 75,
76.

_Bereshit_, its mystic meaning, 144.

Bethesda, the efficacy of the water in its pool inferior to that of
baptism, 57.

Bishop Gerhard, converts the heretics of Arras, 60.

Boethius, on the basis of creation, 124.

Borrichius (Olaf Borch) cited, 115.

Bunsen's Gott in der Geschichte, quoted, 93, 94, 175.

Cabalists' method of searching out the inner meaning of the Bible, 144;
discover the seventy-two mystical names of God, 146.

Christian fathers, one of, doubts if his way of attaining perfection is
the only one, 32;
one of, declares every thing in heathen thought to be of the devil,
42.

Church the, prepared for by election of the Jews, and founded by Christ,
14;
is one body; accumulates a wealth of supererogatory works, and grants
remission of guilt also to dead, 15;
a mole against the tide of sin, 16;
the kingdom of God on earth; her destiny universal extension, 18;
can not check the growth of sin; her emblem an ark, 22;
the only legitimate bodily physician, 68;
forbids at several councils the secular practice of medicine, 72.

Church bells, their power against the demons, 74.

Clemens of Alexandria, fights for the union of belief and thought, 41;
quoted on the mission of philosophy, 42;
rejects the doctrine of eternal punishment, 43.

Colquhoun quoted, 200.

Conception-billets described, 64-66.

"Conjurer of Hell," 148.

Contrast between state of Society in Middle Ages and Hellenic and later
European civilizations due to different theories of the universe,
29.

Cosmic Philosophy of Middle Ages, 1-28.

Cyprianus and others enter into league with Satan, 165.

Delrio, ascribes the origin of witchcraft to Zoroaster, 45.

Demonianism, cured by the Church, 70.

Demons, fallen intelligences of the middle hierarchy, 11;
war against the good angels; cause storms and drouth; pervade the
elements, 12;
entice man, 13;
able to take full possession of men, 25.

Deutsche Theologie, quoted on the nature of evil, 26.

Differences between the dualism of Zoroaster and the Christian, 46-48.

Dissection prohibited, 71.

Dominion, order of angels, receives the commands of God, 5.

Dualism, of the Middle Ages affirmed to have been derived from Persia,
34;
its conflict with the unitarian notions of Greece the sum of history
between Cyrus and Constantine; wins a flank-position on the
Mediterranean upon the return of the Jews from captivity; its
demon-belief testified to by the many demoniacs in the time of
Christ, 35;
magic and belief upon authority its necessary consequences, 36;
derived from Zoroaster, 38;
spreads over the Roman provinces, 39;
advances against Europe, as Manicheism, 43;
is finally absolute and brings on the Dark Ages, 44;
is intensified after entering Christianity, 46,
and undergoes changes, 47, 48;
attacks the inner authority, 92.

Earth, encompassed by ten heavens, 1;
made a paradise for man; explains symbolically man's destiny, 8.

Egidius, opposes fire-worship, 171.

_Electrum magicum_, 138.

Elements, four prime in the constitution of all things, 3.

Eleusinian mysteries, fragments of, preserved in magic of the learned,
117.

Empire, third order of angels, ward off all hindrances, 5.

Empyrean, the heaven of fire; world of archetypes, 1;
remains after the final conflagration, 26.

Europe, belief, of in Middle Ages, 1;
defeats dualism, 36;
goes into the enemy's country, 37.

Eucharist, perennial source of power and sanctification, 59.

Faust, quoted, 98, 109.

Faust-legend, at first proposed to employ H. C. Agrippa as its chief
character, 221.

Field-rats prosecuted, 78-80.

Formula against bloody-flux, 215;
against epilepsy, 215.

Formulary of malediction used by priests, 81, 82.

Gnosticism springs up, 38.

God, enthroned in the Empyrean, 1;
associates with man, 8-9.

Gregory IX. exhorts to a crusade against the Stedinghs, 174.

Gregory the Great, mentioned, 44, 60;
forbade the abrogation of pagan festivities, 160.

Heaven of crystal, next beneath Empyrean,--_primum mobile_; of fixed
stars, devoid of weight, 2.

Hell, becomes a place of punishment, 11;
remains after final conflagration, 26.

Henricus Cornelius Agrippa ab Nettesheim, on God as the source of all
power, 3, 4;
is not chosen to represent the magician in the Faust-legend, 221.

Heretics of Arras, their belief, 60.

Hermes Trismegistus, transmuted whatever he chose to gold, 115.

Hincmar, archb. of Rheims, propounds a remedy against witch-knots, 216.

Hippocrates, mentioned, 71, 72.

Historical development of Middle-age Cosmic Philosophy, 28-51.

History, a spiritual comedy, 23.

_Homunculus philosophicus_, how produced, 132, 133.

Horst's Demonomagie quoted, 199.

Houses of the planets, 134.

"Hubertus-bands" and "Hubertus-keys," 69.

Images, their miraculous properties, 67, 68.

Incense appropriate for Mars, 139.

"_Incubi_" and "_succubi_," 167.

Inevitable causation, not admitted in the Middle Age Cosmic philosophy,
4.

Isis, secrets of entrusted to the sons of Ham, 114.

Jacob's ladder, structure of the universe likened to, 6.

Jamblichus, practices secret arts, to outrival Christian magi, 40.

Jean Bodin, ascribes witchcraft to Zoroaster, 45.

John of Salisbury upon witch-festivals, 173.

Judaico-Alexandrian philosophy blooms, 38.

Jupiter belonging to the second of the planetary spaces, 2.

Knowledge of highest truths revealed to man, 20.

Lucifer, prince of Seraphim, 9;
revolts, and wars with Michael, 10;
is conquered, is permitted to tempt man, 10;
transformed into an angel of light, 12;
triumphs, 14.

Luther, on Satanic malice as the cause of accidents, 24, 25;
esteems highly "Deutsche Theologie," 26;
Tischreden quoted, 168;
referred to, 199.

Lycanthropy of the Middle Ages, 205-207.

"Magia Divina," quoted 130-133.

Magic, of the Church, 51-94;
what enters into all employment of it, 53, 54;
white and black magic, celestial and diabolical, 54;
of the Church defined, 92.
--Magic of the Learned, 95-158;
is derived from various sources, 116;
first principle of, 128.
--Magic of the People, 158-224;
black magic and devil worship, 164.

Magician, the learned of the 15th century, 100;
his apartments described, 105, 108, 110;
explains his science, 112-129;
performs an incantation, 129-155.

Malice of the devil, causes unforeseen accidents, 24, 25.

Man, a microcosm; must dwell on earth, 7;
at first happy, 8.

Mandrake, superstitions concerning, 201.

Manicheism, new form of dualism; advances against Europe; finds a
follower in Augustine, 43.

Marathon, Salamis and Plataea really battle-fields of a religious war,
35.

Mars, situate in the third of the planetary spaces, 2.

Matter, devoid of force and all quality, 3.

May-bugs excommunicated, 75.

Men are often terrified into an alliance with the devil, 25.

Mercury, path of in planetary world, 2.

Middle Ages, Cosmic Philosophy of, 1-28;
historical origin of, 28-55, 94.

Miracles, defined, 4.

Mithras mysteries, contain a copy, by anticipation, of the sacrament of
baptism, 57;
imitate other mysteries of the Church, 58, 60.

Moon, path of, 2.

"_Mus exenteratus_," etc., quoted, 60.

Native spirits popularly believed to inhabit land, air and water, 202.

Nature, knowledge of, same as a knowledge of the angels, 5.

Neoplatonism arises, 40.

Nine revolving heavens, 1.

Nork's "Sitten und Gebraeuche der Deutschen," etc., quoted, 202.

Number 72, its significance, 143, 144;
number 488, 147.

Origen, attempts to unite belief and thought, 41;
rejects the doctrine of eternal punishment, 43.

Origin of the names of the days of the week, 135, 136.

Ormuzd and Ahriman, are the real adversaries repelled at Marathon, 36;
author of _white_ magic, 54.

Pentecost, its gifts transmitted, 91.

Peter de Abano, author of an important question, 97.

_Perpetuum mobile naturae_, method of producing, 130, 131.

Pierre Delancre complains against witch-knots, 216.

Philosophy, system of possible within the Church, 20;
adherents of the scholastic may use Aristotle's dialectics, 21.

Planetary world, next beneath that of fixed stars, 2;
consisting of seven heavens, 2.

Planets guided by angels, 3;
influence the elements and man, 134, 135.

Plotinus, tries to restore Neoplatonism, 40.

Pope, feudal lord of emperors, 18;
determines the true inductions of philosophy, 21;
Sergius III., 63;
Urban Vitus, 65.

Pope John XXII., complains that his life is endangered by sorcerers,
177.

Pope Innocent VIII., puts forth a bull against the spread of sorcery,
178.

Popular maxims of superstition, 208-211.

Power, from a spiritual source only, 3;
communicated to the heavens and the earth by angels, 3.

Power, order of angels, guide the stars and planets, 5.

Principalities, Archangels, and Angels, the third and lowest hierarchy,
hold supremacy over terrestrial things, 5, 6.

Principalities, part of the lowest hierarchy of angels, guardian spirits
of nations, 6.

Proclus, last Neoplatonician, 44.

Pythagoras, glorified as fit to rank with Christ in miraculous gifts,
40;
believed the universe founded on numbers, 124.

Rain-processions in the Middle Ages, 74.

Reason, darkened by apostacy, 13.

"Recognitiones divi Clementis ad Jacob.," quoted, 165.

Reformation, retains somewhat of the Church-magic, 92.

Relics, their magical use, 66.

Remigius, ascribes witchcraft to Zoroaster, 45.

Renaissance, overthrew the darkness and superstition of the Middle Ages,
222-223.

Saints, intercession of, more effective than that of Seraphim, 17;
not disturbed by misery of the damned, 27;
have control over various diseases, 69.

Satan, the Judaized Ahriman, 35.

Saturn, belonging to the first of the planetary spaces, 2.

Scale of the Holy Tetrad (Table I.), 123.

_Schemhamphoras_, or God's mystical names, 144, 146.

_Scholastici errantes_, 220.

Science the, of the Greeks is rational, originates logic and geometry;
of the Middle Ages is _magic_, 30.

Scotus Erigena, mentioned, 44.

Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones, the first hierarchy, and nearest God, 5.

Simon Magus, legend of his discomfiture by St. Peter, 165.

Sprenger, author of Malleus Malificarum, ascribes the origin of
witchcraft to Zoroaster, 45.

Stedinghs persecuted, 174.

_Summa Theologica_, quoted on the delectation of the redeemed upon
seeing the misery of the damned, 28.

Sun, belonging to the middle space of planetary world, 2.

Superstitious prognostics of disease and death, 212-216.

Synodal decree of Ancyra, 171.

Table of correspondences between microcosmos and things on earth, and
the planets, 127.

Tekfael, name of the demon summoned, 147, 153.

Terrestrial things, images of the celestial, 6;
are composed of the coarsest matter, 6;
are all under the control of special angels, 7;
are also influenced by stars, planets and archetypes, 7.

Theologie der Thatsachen wider die Theologie der Rhetorik (A. F. C. H.
Vilmar, 1857) quoted, 48-50.

Thomas Aquinas, on the acquiescence of the saints in the punishment of
the lost, 28;
on the power of demons, 73.

Universe, a vast lyre, 7;
an unbroken harmony, 9;
divided between Good and Evil, 11.

University of 15th century described, 96-98.

Vampirism, 207.

Venus, path of in planetary world, 2.

Vilmar, Neo-Lutheran, would restore to the clergy their mediaeval
prerogatives, 48-50.

Virgil quoted, 205, 216.

Von Goerres, attempts to restore the belief in vampirism, 207.

Witch-hammer, contains directions for the judge in witch-trials, 90,
178-195.

Witches' Sabbath, supposed origin of, 170.

Witch-knots, 216.

Zoroaster, the reputed founder of magic science; and by some believed
the author of witchcraft, 45;
his religion allows evil to disappear in course of time, and promises
a final restoration of all things, 46.

Zoroaster and Plato's systems blended, 37.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Henricus Cornelius Agrippa ab Nettesheim: "De occulta Philosophia."--I., XIII.

[2] Henricus Cornelius Agrippa ab Nettesheim: "De occulta Philosophia."--I., XIII.

[3] _Ibidem._

[4] This passage, directed against the ruler of Assyria, was already interpreted by the early fathers as having reference to Satan. Thus Lucifer, the Latin translation for Morning Star, came to be a name for the prince of darkness.

[5] Luke x. 18.

[6] "De Contemptu Mundi sive de Miseria Humanae Conditionis," a little book written about 1200, by the afterwards Pope Innocent III.

[7] The words of Luther, who, in addition to his dualistic belief, was a genuine son of this same Middle Age, though the destroyer of its autocratic faith.

[8] As such,--as perishable and unreal, are all evil things regarded by an unknown author in the Middle Ages. In his beautiful opuscule "Deutsche Theologie," he says among other things: "Now some one may ask, 'Since we must love every thing, must we also love sin?' The answer is, no; for when we say every thing, we only mean every thing that is good. Every thing that exists is good by virtue of its existence. The devil is good in so far as he exists. In this sense, there is nothing evil in existence. But it is a sin to wish, desire or love any thing else than God. Now all things are essentially in God, and more essentially in God than in themselves; therefore are they all good in their real essence."--The little work from which the above is quoted, is the expression of a deep and pious soul, struggling to master the dualism which fettered his age. It is remarkable that Luther was not more strongly influenced by its spirit, although he confesses that "Next to the Bible and St. Augustine I have found no book from which I have learned more."

[9] See the work "Summa Theologica" (supplementum ad tertiam partem, quaest. 94) by the most prominent and most influential among the theologians of the Middle Ages, Thomas Aquinas. It is there said: "Ut beatitudo sanctorum eis magis complaceat et de ea uberiores gratias Deo agant, datur eis ut poenam impiorum perfecte videant.... Beati, qui erunt in gloria, nullam compassionem ad damnatos habebunt.... Sancti de poenis impiorum gaudebunt, considerando in eis divinae justitiae ordinem et suam liberationem de qua gaudebunt."--With this may be compared the following execrable effusion of another theologian: "Beati coelites non tantum non cognatorum sed nec parentum sempiternis suppliciis ad ullam miserationem flectentur. Imo vero laetabuntur justi, cum viderint vindictam; manus lavabunt in sanguine peccatorum."

[10] Tertullian.

[11] This has been denied in so far as the original teachings of Zoroaster are concerned, but is confirmed by a passage in Aristotle (Metaphys., I., XIV., c. 4).

[12] A. F. Ch. Vilmar: "Theologie der Thatsachen wider die Theologie der Rhetorik" (Marburg, 1857).

[13] Thus, for instance, the red lustre of copper was supposed to indicate that it was connected with Mars, which shines with a reddish light.

[14] "Non baptisatis parvulis nemo promittat inter damnationem regnumque coelorum quietis vel felicitatis cujuslibet atque ubilibet quasi medium locum; hoc enim eis etiam haeresis Pelagiana promisit" (Augustinus: De Anima et Ejus Origine, 1. I., c. IX). In one of his letters Augustine declares that even if the parents hurry to the priest, and he likewise hasten to baptize the child, but find it dead before it has obtained the sacrament, it is nevertheless then doomed to be eternally tormented with the damned, and to blaspheme the name of God.

[15] All these are found, in connection with baptism, in heathen mysteries.

[16] Extract from the formula given at the council of Rome, A. D. 1059, to Berengar of Tours, to which he was forced to swear under penalty of death.

[17] The wafer substituted in the twelfth century for bread was called the host.

[18] The discovery made in our days by the Danish theologian Martensens that the food obtained in the Supper of our Lord is not for the soul only, but also for the body,--for the nourishment of our ascension-body, is not really new; the pagan initiated into the Mithras mysteries was taught that the consecrated bread and wine, being assimilated into his flesh and blood, gave immortality to his corporeal being. Like presuppositions produce in different times like ideas.

An important question in the Middle Ages and one which had been already argued with great heat from the time of Petrus Lombardus until the seventeenth century, is propounded as follows: Has a rat which has eaten of the host thereby partaken of Christ's body? In connection with this it was further asked: How is a rat which has eaten of Christ's body to be treated,--ought it to be killed or honored? Ought the sacrament to be venerated even in the stomach of the rat? If some of the consecrated bread is found in the stomach of a rat, is it a duty to eat it? What must be done if immediately after partaking of the sacrament one is attacked by vomiting? When a rat can eat the host, can not the devil also do it?--One of the last products of these important investigations is a book published in Tuebingen in 1593, entitled: "_Mus exenteratus, hoc est tractatus valde magistralis super quaestione quadam theologica spinosa et multum subtili_," _etc._

[19] During the period of political reaction in 1815, when Schlegel and de Maistre praised the Middle Ages as man's era of bliss, and Goerres sought to restore to credence during the "state period of enlightenment" all the forgotten ghost and vampire stories, the clergy of Brussels were celebrating with processions and other solemnities the anniversary of this persecution of the Jews in Namur.

At the synod in A. D. 1099 a proclamation was issued forbidding priests to enter into any servile relations with laymen, because it were shameful if the most holy hands which prepared the flesh and blood of Almighty God should serve the unconsecrated laity. The famous orator Bourdaloue requested that greater homage should be paid to the priest than to the holy Virgin, because God had been incarnated in her bosom only once, but was in the hands of the priest daily, as often as the mass was read.

[20] The oldest Christian art in which the dying spirit of antiquity yet reveals itself, represented Jesus as a shepherd youth carrying a lamb upon his bosom. Many a one could only turn away sadly from the beaming world of Olympus to the new Christian ideal, and when they must needs so do, they would fain transfer to the new "_puer redemptor_" the mild beauty of the former youthful mediator, Dionysus Zagreus. In the hymns, still preserved to us, of Synesius, who combined in one person the bishop and the Greek who still longs for wisdom and beauty (doubtless known to many of our readers by Kingsley's novel of Hypatia), this sadness is in wonderful harmony with Christian devotion. With the ruin of the antique world, this longing as well as the capability of satisfying it ceased. The material symbol obtained thereafter a more prominent place. If the Phoenicians and Canaanites represented their god corporeally as the powerful steer, the Christians chose the patient and inoffensive lamb as the type of theirs. The Council of Constantinople in A. D. 692 confirmed this lamb-symbol. As Aaron had made a golden calf, Pope Sergius III. procured a lamb to be made of gold and ivory. All who rebelled against its worship were treated as disorderly and heretical. In the time of Charlemagne one of them, Bishop Claudius of Turin, from whom the Waldenses derive their origin, complained: "_Isti perversorum dogmatum auctores agnos vivos volunt vorare et in pariete pictos adorare._"

[21] Pope Urban Vitus presented an _agnus Dei_ to the Byzantine Emperor. An accompanying note described its wonderful powers in the following monkish-Latin hexameters:--

_Balsamus et munda cera cum chrismatis unda
Conficiunt agnum, quod munus do tibi magnum
Fonte velut natum per mystica sanctificatum.
Fulgura desursum depellit, et omne malignum
Peccatum frangit, ut Christi sanguis et angit.
Praegnans servatur, simul et partus liberatur.
Dona refert dignis, virtutem destruit ignis.
Portatus munde de fluctibus eripit undae._

[22] As late as 1784 a statute was issued by Carl Theodor, Elector of Pfalz, referring to the magic power of St. Hubert-relics, and forbidding the employment of "worldly" remedies against the bite of mad dogs.

[23] In the year 1240 a large rain-procession was held in Luettich. Three times repeated it failed of all effect, "because in the supplication of all saints God's mother had been forgotten." In a new procession "_Salve regina_" was therefore sung, and the rain immediately came down with such violence that the devout procession was dispersed.--The clergy sometimes, in order to produce rain, would lead a donkey before the gate of the church, hang the litany about his neck, put a wafer in his mouth, and then bury the animal alive.

[24] Especially was the Church of the Middle Ages rich in awful formularies of malediction, testifying to an enormous brutalization of thought and feeling. A single specimen of these formularies will be more than sufficient to illustrate:--

"By the might, power and authority of God, the Almighty Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost and in the name of the Holy Virgin the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, by the holy angels, archangels, St. Michael and St. John the Baptist, in the name of the holy apostle Peter and all the apostles, in the name of the holy Stephen and all the holy martyrs, and St. Adelgunda and all the holy virgins, and of all the saints in heaven and on earth to whom power is given to bind and loose,--we curse, execrate and exclude from the mother Church through the bond of malediction (here follows the name of the persons). May their children be orphaned; may they be cursed upon the field, cursed in the city, in the forest, in their houses and barns, in their chamber and their bed, in the town-hall, in the village, on land and sea; may they be cursed in the church, in the churchyard, in the court-room, on the public square and in war; whether they be talking, sleeping, waking, eating or drinking, whether they be going or resting, or doing any other thing, let them be accursed in soul and body, reason and all their senses: cursed be their progeny, cursed be the fruit of their land, cursed be all their limbs, head, nose, mouth, teeth, throat, eyes, and eyelashes, brain, larynx, tongue, breast, lungs, liver, legs, and arms, skin and hair; cursed be every thing living and moving in them from head to foot, etc. I conjure thee, Lucifer, and all your crew, by the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, by the incarnation and birth of Christ; I conjure thee by the power and the virtue of all saints, that thou never leave them in quiet, night or day, until thou have brought them to ruin, destroyed them by water, or led them to the gallows, or caused them to be torn by wild beasts, or their throat to be cut by enemies, or their bodies to be destroyed by fire," etc., etc.

[25] A biblical ground for ordeals was found in Numbers v. 12-28.

[26] The "Witch-hammer" will be more fully described hereafter. The student of history should not neglect this volume, which is the ripest fruit of Catholic dualism, and clearly shows the results to which it tends.

[27] "Gott in der Geschichte," III.

[28] Yet in the days of Erasmus of Rotterdam the theologians were making great ado over this knotty problem.

[29] This confession Cornelius Agrippa makes in his "Occult Philosophy." Theophrastus Paracelsus and others were less modest.

[30] Thus reasoned, as late as the middle of the sixteenth century, Borrichius (Olaf Borch), who was professor in chemistry at the University of Copenhagen and wrote a book upon the wisdom of the Egyptian Hermes.

[31] Agrippa: "De Occulta Philosophia," 1. I., c. 24.

[32] We have found in a "_Magia Divina_" the following directions for accomplishing a _perpetuum mobile naturae_, the efficacy of which we leave for the reader to decide.

"During the twelve nights after Christmas 1-1/2 measures of dew are collected from fruit-trees, and preserved well enclosed. In the month of March dew is again collected from both fruit-trees and meadows and is preserved in another phial. Dew collected in May is poured in a third and rain of a thunderstorm during the summer in a fourth. Thereupon the contents of the four phials are mixed and one measure of it is poured into a great transparent glass retort where, well covered, it must remain a month until it becomes foul. Put it then over fire and subject to heat of the second degree. When sufficiently distilled a substance thick as honey is left. In this residue are poured four grains of astral tincture. The mixture is exposed to a heat of the first degree, by which it is converted into a thick, jet-black lump which again is dissolved, forming below an ink-like fluid, and above a vapor, in which many colors and figures are seen. These soon disappear, and every thing is changed into water, which begins to turn green, and green palaces, constantly enlarging, and mountains and lovely pastures appear, while the water is diminished more and more. When now you find that no more dew rises from the earth within the glass, take the water which you received from the distillation, mix with it a drachm of astral tincture and pour an ounce of this mixture into the glass bulb. Then every thing begins again to live and grow. Add every month an ounce of this mixture. If then the glass ball is well closed, and is not stirred, a vapor gradually arises, and is condensed into two shining stars, like the sun and the moon, and like the latter, one of these stars waxes and wanes; and all the phenomena of nature, thunder, lightning, hail, rain, snow and dew, will appear in your glass ball as in the real world around you. All this will happen if you keep the great Creator before your eyes and in your heart, and if you conceal from the wicked world this great secret."

From the second part of Goethe's Faust the reader may remember Doctor Wagner, Faust's former _famulus_, busily engaged at the alchemic furnace in preparing a _homunculus_, an artificial man. The same "_Magia Divina_" from which we have quoted the preceding directions, allows us also to trace the secret of the learned Wagner: the art of producing "homunculos philosophicos." In a retort of the most beautiful crystal glass is poured one measure of the purest May-dew, collected when the moon is crescent, and two measures of blood from a youth, or three measures from a girl. Both the boy and the girl must be hale and, "if possible," chaste. When this mixture has fomented during a month, and been transformed into a reddish clay, the _menstruum_ which is formed on the top is drawn off by means of tubes hermetically attached to the retort, gathered into a clean glass vessel, mixed with one drachm animal tincture, and the mixture is again poured into the retort where it is kept during a month in gentle heat. A sort of bladder will have then formed which is soon gradually covered with an organic net of little veins and nerves. Sprinkled every fourth week with the _menstruum_ above quoted, the bladder grows during four months. When now you notice a peeping sound and movements of vitality in the glass, look into it and you will discover to your joy and amazement a most beautiful pair, a boy and a girl, which you can contemplate with heart-felt admiration for this lovely work of nature, though their height is but six inches. They move and walk about in the glass, where in the midst there is a tree growing with all kinds of pleasant fruits. If now you pour into the retort every month, two grains of animal tincture, you can keep them alive six whole years. When one year old they can inform you of many secrets of nature. They are benevolent in their disposition, and obey you in every thing. But at the end of the sixth year you will find that this beautiful pair who have eaten hitherto of all kinds of fruit, except those growing on the tree which sprang up in the midst of the retort, now begin to eat also the fruit of that. Then a vapor is found in the retort, which grows denser, assumes a blood-red color and emits flashes. The two _homunculi_ are terrified, and try to hide themselves. Finally every thing around them is parched, they die, and the whole is changed into a fuming mass. If the glass is not very large and strong it explodes, causing great damage.

[33] Every planet had among the twelve signs of the Zodiac its own house, and it was especially propitious when in any of those abodes. The following table shows the order:--

Saturn dwells in Capricornus.
Jupiter " " Pisces and Sagittarius.
Mars " " Aries and Scorpio.
The Sun " " Leo.
Venus " " Taurus and Ursa Major.
Mercurius " " Virgo and Gemini.
The Moon " " Cancer.

Each of the twelve signs (thirty degrees on the arc of the heavens) was divided into three "faces" (ten degrees). The position of the planet was most auspicious when in the first face of the house; if in the third its favorable influence was doubtful.

As the reader will see from the first table given above, the signs of the Zodiac were supposed to sustain a relation to the elements and to temperaments. Aries, Leo and Sagittarius were warm, dry, fiery and choleric. Mars entering these signs--excepting that of Aries which was his own house, in which he was auspicious--must therefore bode draught, conflagration and pestilence. Taurus, Virgo and Capricornus, were cold, dry, earthy, melancholic. Saturn in the second sign of Taurus might consequently betoken a severe winter. The signs of Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces were cold, damp, watery and sanguine. The dominion of the Zodiacal constellations over the human body was divided as follows: Aries presided over the head and face, Taurus over the neck and throat, Gemini over the shoulders, arms and hands, Cancer over the breast, ribs, lungs and spleen, Leo over the upper part of the stomach, back and side, Virgo over the lower part of the stomach and intestines, Scorpio over the generative organs, Sagittarius over the anus, Capricornus over the knees, Aquarius over the thighs, Pisces over the feet. The planets exercised the same influence as their houses, and all elementary things subordinated to a planet were considered to be, during auspicious aspects, excellent remedies for affections in the limbs presided over by that planet. The series of analogies, of which we have given an example above, were therefore inexhaustible mines even for the physicians of the Middle Ages. Since, for instance, Capricornus which presided over the knees, is the house of Saturn, and all crawling animals are connected with this planet, the fat of snakes is an effective remedy against gout in the knees, especially on Saturday, the day of Saturn.

[34] The days bear yet, in many languages, the names of the planets which were assigned to them in gray antiquity by Astrology.

Sunday, dies Solis, is the day of the Sun.
Monday, dies Lunae, is the day of the Moon.
Tuesday, dies Martis, is the day of Mars, _i. e._, Tiw.
Wednesday, dies Mercurii, is the day of Mercury.
Thursday, dies Jovis, is the day of Jupiter, _i. e._, Thor.
Friday, dies Veneris, is the day of Venus, _i. e._, Freja.
Saturday, dies Saturni, is the day of Saturn.

The original names seem to have been introduced by the Romans during the later period of the republic. That the idea is derived from Egypt is shown by a passage in Dion Cassius [l. XLIII., c. 26; compare E. Roth, "Geschichte userer abendlaendischer Philosophie," I., pag. 211]. The question when and how they were introduced by our forefathers will perhaps remain forever a matter only of conjecture. It has caused astonishment that the order in which the days were named after the planets, though the same with all nations, is not the order in which they were supposed to be placed in the universe (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury and the Moon). This riddle is solved by the passage in Dion Cassius referred to, in a manner such that the astrological origin of this nomenclature must be undoubted. He relates, namely, that the Egyptians devoted every one of the twenty-four hours to a certain planet. The first hour of the first week-day (Saturday) was given to the uppermost planet, Saturn, the second to Jupiter, the third to Mars and so on, according to the order of the planets. The 24th hour of Saturday consequently fell also to Mars, and the first hour of the succeeding day to the Sun, by which that day was therefore named Sunday. The 24th hour of Sunday falls according to the same calculation to Mercury, and the first hour of Monday to the Moon; and so on. The astrological distribution of the hours between the planets according to their successive order in the heavens thus explains the apparent disorder which occurs in the week. In the magical works by Cornelius Agrippa, Peter de Albano and others, of which the author has availed himself, tables concerning the distribution of the hours are found. These writers have collected from all quarters, and not least from Ptolemy and the Alexandrians, materials for their magical apparatus.

[35] The prescriptions for these perfumes are found in Cornelius Agrippa's "Occulta Philosophia," l. I., c. 44.

[36] They are found in Agrippa's "Occulta Philosophia," l. III. cc. 25, 26, 27, 28.

[37] Many pages could be filled with subtle speculations over the word _Bereshit_, the first word in the Old Testament. That the sensual world is only a secondary world, a reflex of the ideal world, the Cabalists proved by showing that Holy Writ commences not with the first but with the second letter of the Alphabet, namely [Hebrew] (b), which in its form is half a square [found in the number of the world], and therefore signifies an accomplished separation between spirit and matter, between good and evil. By a transposition of the letters in _Bereshit_, in accordance with the method of the Cabala, two other words are obtained which mean "in the first Tishri," showing that the world had been created in the month of Tishri (September). The sum of the numerical value of the letters in the word _Bereshit_ equals the sum of the numerical value of the letters in two words which mean "He created by the law,"--a proof that the law is the instrumental cause of the world. Further, _Bereshit_ can be divided so as to form two words meaning "He created six" (six days, six millenniums, the six extensions of universal space, etc.); or, "He created a ram," which was, according to the Hebrew Cabalists, the same ram that was sacrificed instead of Isaac, and the Christians add, the same "Lamb of God" which gave itself a sacrifice for man.

[38] The table from which the author has amused himself in extracting, according to the rules, this name, is found in "Occulta Philosophia," 1. III. c. 26.

[39] Agrippa's book gives the subtle rules for finding the "signs" or the signatures of the demons.--The reader must remember the part played by the "signs" of microcosmos and the earth-spirit in Goethe's Faust.

[40] Since they (the newly converted Anglo-Saxons) are accustomed to slaughter many oxen and horses in their feasts to the honor of the devils (their ancient gods) it is necessary to allow this custom to remain, but based upon another principle. Thus there must likewise be celebrated on the feast days of the Church and of the Holy Martyrs whose relics are kept in the churches built in heathen sacrificial groves, a perfectly similar festival, by enclosing a place with green trees and preparing a religious banquet. Still the animals must not be sacrificed to Satan's honor, but slaughtered to the praise of God and for the sake of food, for which the Giver of all good gifts must be thanked.

[41] "_Creberrima fama est multique se expertos vel ab eis qui experti essent, de quorum fide dubitandum non est, audisse confirmant, silvanos et faunos, quos incubos vocant, improbos saepe exstitisse mulieribus et earum appetisse ac peregisse concubitum, et quosdam daemones, quos Dusios Galli nuncupant, hanc assidue immunditiam et tentare et efficere plures talesque asseverant, ut hoc negare impudentiae videatur._" (De civitate Dei. lib. 15, cap. 23).

[42] "Recognitiones divi Clementis ad Jacob," lib. II.

[43] This view is expressed already in Henoch's book and in the writings of the Rabbi. Like them even the fathers interpreted the "Sons of God" mentioned in Genesis who "were fascinated by the daughters of men" as fallen angels. Thus Cyrillus, Anthenagoras, Irenaeus, Lactantius, Turtullianus, and others. We have just instanced above a quotation from Augustine. The Greek mythology with its amours between gods and men was destined to give support to this superstition.--Luther, who could not free himself from the superstition of his time, tells us often in his "Tischreden" that the devil can beget children by connection with human beings. "Es ist wahrlich ein grauelich, schrecklich Exempel," he says in one place, "dass der Teufel kann die Leute plagen, dass er auch kinder zeuget."

[44] Reginonis libri duo de synodalibus causis et disciplinis ecclesiasticis. The work was republished in Leipzig in the year 1840.

[45] "Gott in der Geschichte," III.

[46] It is found complete in its original form in Horst's "Demonomagie," II.

[47] Many etymologies as profound occur in the "Witch-hammer." The word _diabolus_ (devil) is derived from _duo_, "two," and _bolus_, "morsel," which is thus explained, that the devil fishes at the same time after two morsels, the soul and the body.

[48] This deduction, replete with indecencies which can not be handled, occupies thirty-three pages of the "Witch-hammer." It pretends to be very convincing. It has also sent women by hundreds of thousands to death.

[49] To give the reader a clearer idea of the really diabolical blindness and brutality which characterizes the terrible book we are giving an account of, we quote the following statement from the "Witch-hammer," p. 223: "We (the inquisitors Sprenger and his colleagues) find that of all women that we have condemned to the flames very few have voluntarily done harm by sorcery. They have generally been forced by the devil to do it. After having confessed every thing (on the rack) they generally attempt suicide before being taken to the stake. It is the devil who tempts them thus, for he is afraid that by repentance and confession they will receive the pardon of God. If this wily trick is not successful, and if they are prevented from destroying themselves, he knows how to rob them of the chance of grace by other means, namely, by smiting them with fury, madness or sudden death!"--Behold a sample of how theological arguments founded on superior natural influences can be used!

[50] Horst: "Demonomagie," I.

[51] Colquhoun.

[52] [Greek: Mela Mandragorou] (in Hebrew _dudaim_) is in the Septuagint a name for the love-apples with which Leah regaled her husband (Gen. xxx. 14). Pliny speaks of the mandragora as a poisonous herb, dangerous to dig; now already Columella knows the mandragora as a half-human being--"_semihomo mandragoras_."

[53] Man sagt: wenn ein Erbdieb, dem, wie den Ziguenern das Stehlen angeboren ist, oder dessen Mutter, als sie mit ihm schwanger ging, gestohlen, oder doch gross Geluesten dazu gehabt--nach Einigen; auch ein Unschuldiger, welcher in der Tortur sich fuer einen Dieb bekennt--und der ein reiner Junggeselle ist, gehaenkt wird, und das Wasser laesst, oder sein Same auf die Erde faellt, so waechst an solchem Ort der Alraun.--"Nork: Sitten und Gebraeuche der Deutschen und ihrer Nachbarvoelker."

[54] So Propertius and Plinius. Virgil (eclog. VIII.) makes a shepherd sing:

Has herbas, atque haec Ponto mihi lecta venena,
Ipse dedit Moeris: nascuntur plurima Ponto.
_His ego saepe lupum fieri, et se condere selvis
Moerim_ ... vidi.

[55] Melancthon, who firmly believed in the were-wolf, reasoned in the same way.

[56] As late as 1804 a vagabond named Marechal was accused by the peasants in Longueville as a sorcerer and were-wolf. At his trial the mysterious were-wolf excursions were resolved into thieving rambles, and Marechal was condemned for burglary to the galleys.

[57] During the restauration in 1815, when all the dead rose in their sepulchres, the famous _von Goerres_ sought to revive the belief in vampirism. He has written about it a work of mighty learning, wherein he discourses profusely of the "vegetative" sources of the body, which he asserts continue their activity after death, and thus enable the soul of the deceased to reoccupy and for a while reoperate its old machinery.

[58] Some of the popular forms of conjuration are in Latin, though corrupted so as to be almost beyond recognition. A couple of restored examples may be given. This is the formula against bloody-flux:

Sanguis mane in venis
Sicut Christus in poenis,
Sanguis mane fixus
Sicut Christus fuit crucifixus.

Against fever:

Deus vos solvet sambuco, panem et sal ego vobis adduco, febrem tertianam et quotidianam accipite vos, qui nolo eam.

Against epilepsy:

Melchior, Balthaser, portans haec nomina Caspar,
Solvitur e morbo Domini pietate caduco.
Perpetret et ternas defunctis psallere missas.
Barachun. Barachagim. Destrue. Subalgat.

[59] Compare Virgil, Ecl. VIII:

Terna tibi haec primum triplici diversa colore
Licia circumdo....
Necte tribus nodis ternos, Amarylli, colores:
Necte, Amarylli, modo: et Veneris, dic, vincula necto.

[60] Compare same eclogue:

Limus ut hic durescit, et haec ut cera liquescit
Uno eodemque igni: sic nostro Daphnis amore.

[61] The Faust-legend, formed during the time of the Reformation, sought at first to employ one of the heroes of the learned magic, Henricus Cornelius Agrippa, as its chief character; but a biography of him, published by his pupil, Wierus, having dispelled the fantastical halo enveloping his personality, the creative desire sought a more obscure object which it could transform according to its bizarre imaginations.

Transcriber's Notes:

Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_.

Passages in fraktur font are indicated by =fraktur=.

The original text includes Greek characters. For this text version these letters have been replaced with transliterations.

The original text includes Hebrew characters. For this text version these letters have been replaced with [Hebrew].

End of Project Gutenberg's The Magic of the Middle Ages, by Viktor Rydberg