Antonie is written to have heard was but an impression in the soule of some signes and tokens which did foreshew and prognosticate some future evills which should afterwards befall and happen vnto them For even as saith he it happeneth in sleeping that a man taketh an impression in his minde of strange things that shall befall vnto him So in waking if a man be in a deepe muse and profound imagination hee shall take an impression into his soule by the force of the heavens of that which shal betide fal vnto him And a man shall imagine that he seeth and heareth as in a dreame that which dooth presage some future mishap and disaster to come Notwithstanding as we have bâ—fore said following the authoritie of Aristotle Answer to the former obiection there is not any imagination so strong and forcible that can so pervert the senses that they will suffer themselves to be guided or misâ—led thereby And as he saith well it may be that there may bee an exceeding great passion and such as is that De somno vigilia wherewith persons afflicted with an extreame fever vse to be touched who commonly doe imagine that they see images and figures in a wall albeit in truth and very deede they see nothing at all But that such men as are sound and well disposed should suffer themselves to be abused by the force of their imagination vnlesse it were by the Prestigies and illusions of Sathan or that they can possibly see whatsoever they do profoundly imagine is too too abhorring from any reason to be affirmed Or to make the heaven the cause thereof seemeth to proceede only for default of a more apparant or better reason to confirme it Better it were therefore as hath beene said to referre the cause of all this Of the means how the imaginative power and senses may be deceived in specters and phantosmes by the illusion of the divell Tome 2. Summe Saâ—rae Theolog quest 80. Arti. 2. to the working of the divells who as Saint Thomas of Aquin saâ—th may cause the same to proceede by the locall motion as well of the humane inferiour bodies as of the spirits and powers sensitive if they be not repressed by the divine powers and puissance For so it is that by the locall motion of the humours in sleepe there do present themselves divers sensible formes and figures as Aristotle saith caused through the aboundance of the blood that descendeth to the sensitive principles and there doe leave divers impressions of sensible motions the which do conferre and keepe themselves in the sensible Species or shapes and doe move the apprehension in such sort that they do appeare as if the sences outwardly did moove themselves So that it is not strange that the divel having power permitted him as is saide to moove the humours may also make and cause them waking to receive by the eies or other senses diverse imaginations figures voyces sounds and other things that see me very strange marvellous And this is the cause as Saint Angustine saith That there is not any of the corporall senses but the divell may possesse the same and vse it at his pleasure if God do so permit him Serpit hoc malum Diaboli saith this Doctour per omnes aditus sensuales dat se figuris accommodat se coloribus Lib. 18. Quest adharet sonis odoribus se subijcit infundit se saporibus quibusdam nebulis implet omnes meatus intelligentiae That is to say So mischievous is the divell that he creepeth throughout all the passages of the senses Hee adhereth vnto soundes he subiecteth and insinuateth himselfe into smelles and odours hee powreth himselfe into savours and hee filleth all the passages of the intelligence with certayne mistes and clowdes And by the same reason it happeneth also That the divell dooth cast himselfe also into the inward and interiour senses and into the fantasie of men and mooveth them in the same sorte as hee dooth the externall and by a certayne extasie and alienation of their spirites which hee causeth hee maketh diverse formes specters and phantosmes to appeare in their imaginations the which at such times as they awake from sleepe will so lively represent themselves to the externall senses that a man cannot be otherwise perswaded but that hee hath truly and indeede seene them albeit the same were but a pure illusion of the divell Of diabolical extasies happening to witches and sorcerers that they be not by the departing of the soule from the bodie for a season but onelie by illusion of the divell Now this dooth leade vs as it were by the hand to those discourses and reports of Witches and Sorcerers In whose fantasies and internall senses the divel dooth so well and cunningly imprint and fasten certaine Images and figures of things that the same doe afterwards convey themselves to their outward senses howbeit that they have neither seene nor heard the same but onelie in a kinde of dreame and diabolicall extasie For that the soule of the Sorcerer shoulde issue foorth and departs out of the body as some persons of this age have imagined is a thing that cannot in any sorte be appreoved and wee will easly refute and disproove the same by sufficient reason and authorities when time shall serve and that we come to speake of prodigious dreames But vpon the matter it shall nowe suffice 26 Quest â— cap. Episâ—op that the Councell of Ancyra according as is to be read in the Cannon Lawe hath determined that whatsoever the divelles doe instill into the spirites and mindes of Sorcerers and Sorceresses is not by any abstraction made of the soule out or from the body but onely by true and pure illusions fantosmes and deceptions making them beleeve that they ride I knowe not on what kinde of beastes with Dianâ— the goddesse of the Paynims and with Herodiade It appeareth also by the determination of the same Councell that the Sorcerers which see such things are seduced by the divell and through their infidelitie doe deserve to bee mis-led by those diabolicall illusions And this sheweth apparantly that the Sorcerers and Sorceresses doe never enter and fall into such kinds of extasies in the which they see diverse phantosmes that doe convey themselves to the externall senses at the time of their awaking except they have intelligence and confederation with the divell For otherwise the divell could never fasten his illusions so deepely in their imagination to make them believe that they had seen that in their body which they doe not see indeede but onely in spirite and imagination of the minde And I say this expresly to refute the opinion of some Phisitians of our time as namely Baptista de Porta a Neapolitane Opinion of Baptista de Porta and other Physitions refuted a tributing the extasies of Sor cerers to oynt ments c. who doe affirme and maintaine that the sleepes of Sorcerers replenished
and apparantly enioy this priuiledge to see God face to face he heard how God said vnto him That his seruant Moses might see him with out any impediment but that other Prophets should see him onely by vision The Hebrew Text is Bammarâ Elau ethuadaa That is to say I will manifest my selfe to them in vision Definition of a Fantasie what it is It resteth now that we speake of the Fantasie which is no other thing but an Imagination and impression of the Soule of such formes and shapes as are knowne or of such as shall bee imagined without any sight had of them Or which shall bee receiued and vnderstoode of others to bee such by reasons and arguments This definition giueth S. Augustine writing to Nebridius And first as touching the imagination of things knowne Episto 72 It is most plaine and euident that whensoeuer we dreame of them presently there commeth into our thought the Phantosme and Image of them As if we dreame of our friend Immediatly he presenteth himselfe to our mindes and imagination in the same stature face habite person and a thousand other such particularities which are notable in him So if we dreame of our Countrey It seemeth vnto vs that we see the very wayes before vs whereby we trauell our houses our lands and our friends which Apollonius the Rhodian very well expresseth in these verses As when it chanceth In Argonaut◠a thing to men oft chauncing That one in forraine soyle farre off goes wandring Yet findes no place so farre though farthest off But when he listes can see the same and through The high wayes of his Countrey sometimes erreth Sometimes his house his goods his lands beholdeth Now here now there his curious thoughts oft turning He leades them through a thousand places running This sort of Fantasie Cattius a famous Epicure of his time of whome Horace maketh mention in one of his Satyres doth call a Specter But Cicero writing to Cassius iesteth at him that not without cause The difference betweene a Specter and a Fantasie A vision or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a sensible apprehension 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a motion of the heauenly spirits as sayth S. Ba. vpō Esay For there is a very great difference between the one the other for that the one is a simple imagination of the spirit or minde and the other is a sensible vision The one is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thinking or imagination as Homer calleth it The other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is plainely and manifestly seene and the same Poet in another place calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now as touching things not knowne nor seene but imagined in the minde they are for the most part spirituall and without corporall substance or they are conceiued and vnderstoode by humane reason and gathered by demonstrations as to beleeue that there is a God which gouerneth the world and hath a care and ouersight of mankinde Now these Fantasies which may bee named also Intellectuall are comprised as the Stoicks say partly by similitude as Socrates by his Image and partly by the proportion or Analogy of one thing to another and that is either by way of encrease or diminution by increase as Cyclops and Titius Giants by diminution as a Pigmey and a Dwarfe and partly by translation as wee say the eyes of the breast and by composition as an Hippocentaure a Tragelaphe and others such like monsters composed of two seuerall kindes of creatures and by the contrary of a thing as death by life And generally those things which are incorporall and vniuersall are comprehended by the meanes of such things as are corporall according to the saying of the Ciuilians For by the ground say they which oweth seruitude and yeeldeth benefit a man may comprehend the seruice and benefite belonging thereunto which are things meerely incorporall Now of al these kindes of Imagination which we haue so amply and at large described It may be gathered that there are two sortes of Imagination Two kindes of Imagination namely one Intellectuall and without corporall substance The other sensible and corporall Intellectuall Incorporall Sensible and Corporall Imagination Intellectuall what it is The Intellectuall is the Fantasie of which is bred and engendred in vs a memory or remembrance as the Peripatetickes speake and the discourse of the reasonable soule I meane that discourse which is proper only vnto man by the which he ballanceth and weigheth the things present by those which are past foreseeth by things past those which are to come after For albeit the vnreasonable creatures doe sometimes seeme to haue a kinde of discourse or dreaming in them as is to be seene in Horses and Dogges yet this dreaming or discourse in them is no other then meerely bestial and brutish which doth not accomodate nor apply it selfe but onely to things present by an vnreasonable appetite desire vnto those things which they loue and by eschewing and abhorring to their vtmost powers that which may be fearefull or contrary vnto them And therefore Epictetus speaking of those fantasies Theocritus which are sodainly carryed by the outward senses into the inward powers of the soule and doe carry feare and terrour with them as namely Thunders Earthquakes fearefull sights terrours and other such like things He said very well that they are common to vs with the brute beastes which are guided onely by their brutish senses But that the resolution which hee calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is proper and peculiar vnto man And for as much as it happeneth that such fantasies are out of the power will Terrours bred in the mind by the sense common to men with with brute beastes and election of the soule It followeth that they proceed of the senses which being no longer held vnder the rule and gouernment of the reason they doe more sauour of the brutall then the reasonable part of the soule And if peraduenture it shall be obiected that often times euen wise men themselues are not exempted from these feares and apprehensions To this I answere that it is not possible but the bodie of man should tremble and start at those things as beeing framed and compounded of Spirits apprehensiue subtill and sensible but it is soone quieted and as it were brought in temper againe by the soule which doth reassure and restore courage vnto it As when one casteth a stone into the water he shal see the water for a while to bubble vp and bee troubled but soone after it returneth to it former estate Imagination sensitiue twofold and whence it commeth The definition of a Specter opened and confirmed in the seuerall parts thereof Now touching that Imagination which is sensitiue either it is false and commeth either of the imaginatiue power corrupted or of the senses hurt and altred or else it is true and then it is that which we call a Specter which we defined to be
so doth S. Lib. 15. cap. 23. de ciuitate Des. Augustine interpret that place And forasmuch as the Angels were created by God strong and puissant and are ordayned as Iudges of the world hauing the Regiment and gouernement thereof in diuers charges degrees and authorities For this cause the Hebrewes call them also Abirim which signifieth strong and Elobim Gods or Iudges And because they haue their vnderstanding sharpe quicke and subtill therefore they call them also Shanim which ought to be vnderstood both actiuely and passiuely For besides that of themselues they haue their vnderstanding quicke and subtill they doe also sharpen and open the vnderstanding and Intellectuall powers of men whom they visite Of the seuerall names of Diuils or euill Angels amongst the Hebrewes Greeks and Arabians Now the euil Angels diuels are also named like as the good Angels are Malachim by the name of messengers yet so as they haue an addition of an Epithet sit and answerable to their wicked euil nature which is Raaim The which some being deceiued by the affinitie of the Letters haue turned into Rashim which signifieth Heades Chiefes or Colonels But I do not know that I did euer read the word Rashim simply for Diuels And if it bee in any place vsed for the same it is rather by way of an Allegorie then otherwise as I am not ignorant that the Hebrewes allegorically doe call the Deuils The diuels in the auncient French were called Guelsers of the Almanie word Vaguerant id est Vagabond which commeth of the Hebrew word Gala. Rashe-galijoth That is Heads or Chiefes of Captiuitie and Chiefes of mishappe and of encombraÌ„ce Moreouer the deuils are called also as the angels Ruhhoth Spirits and in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Spirits deceiuers and wicked and euill spirits They are also tearmed by the Greekes Daemones and Diaboli Daemones because they bring feare vnto men and Diaboli because they are Detractours Lyers slaunderers which the Hebrewes doe expresse also in their Language by the Name of Satanim which in the vulgar Translation is translated Diuels Calumniators and enemies And the Arabians euen to this day doe retaine this name For they call the Diuels Satainim as is to bee seene in diuers places of the Alcoran Besides they are called of the Hebrewes Elilim as authors of all Idolatrie and of the Idoles of the Paynims And of this name in my opinion is deryued the worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which as writeth Macrobius The auncient Greekes did vse to call both Apollo and Bacchus which in very truth were two Diuels that had more Images erected in their names then any other of the Heathen Gods and did longest of all abuse and seduce the Greekes the inuentours of all Idolatrie The seuerall names of diuels amongst the Latynes The Latynes also for their partes are not vnfurnished nor vnprouided of fit Names proper and significatiue touching Diuels For they vsed by diuers and seuerall Names to call them Lares Laruae Lemures Genij Manes And that those which they termed Lares were Diuels It appeareth in that Cicero translating Plato his Timeus calleth that Lares which the Philosopher named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Diuels The Grammarian Festus agreeing with Cicero saith also that they are Infernall gods or the soules of men And as touching the regard of the soules It is no strange matter to finde in S. Augustine and other auncient Authors That our forefathers beeing Gentiles did thinke That the soules of men after their dissolution from the bodies did become Daemones or Diuels Of Lares or Domesticall gods or diuels In lib. 6. Acneidos in the expheatioÌ„ of the ver Sedibus huncrefer ance suis Now these Lares were domestical or houshold gods because as Seruius said in olde times the dead bodies were vsually enterred and buried in their houses And therefore those Lares that is to say the soules of the dead were adored and worshipped euery one particularly in that house where their bodies were enterred Of the name of Lares was deriued that of Laruae which were Shadowes or Ghostes tormenting the domesticall and particular inhabitants of priuate houses And certaine it is that euen in the time of our fathers the Polapians being a certaine Northerne people before they were reduced to the Christian faith did bury the bodies of their parents in the harthes of their Chimneies and for default thereof they were vexed and tormented with Spirits that appeared vnto them The Philosopher Plutarch likewise doth affirme that these Lares haue the ouersight of houses In Problem Râ—â— and that they are most seuere and cruell exactors and punishers of faultes committed and searchers or Inquisitors of the life and actions of those persons which are within their iurisdiction or precincts And he saith that they are clothed with Dogge-skinnes because as the Dogge is a beast that excelleth in sent and smelling so doe they as it were smell out a farre off the sins and misdeedes of men to the intent they may sharply punish and chastice them for the same But hee might haue added this rather if hee had beene a Christian That as Dogges are naturally enuious So these Lares or Diuels of this kinde do beare enuy and malice to mankinde Notwithstanding Festus whome we do gladly alledge seemeth to affirme That these Lares are sometime good for he names them sometime Praestites because they were thought to make all things safe and to keepe and preserue all thinges carefully and sometimes Hostilios for that they were supposed to driue away enemies But howsoeuer it bee certaine it is they were no other then verie Diuels who if they seemed sometimes to ayde and helpe men and to doe them some good yet the same was to the intent they might afterwardes worke them the more and greater harme and damage aswell inwardly in their Soules and consciences as outwardly in their bodies and goods Touching those Spirits which they call Lemures they are reckoned amongst the Laruae or hurtfull Spirites Of the Spirits called Lemures and are indeede Diuels which doe appeare in the night in the forme of diuers Beastes but most commonly in the shape and figure of dead men And Parphirus the Interpreter of Horace calleth them the Shadowes or wandring soules of men that dye before their time which is but an errour of the Pagans and hee addeth That the name of Lemures commeth of Romus the brother of Romulus by the chaunging of one letter into another because the Ghost or shadowe of that Prince did pursue Romulus his murtherer who to the intent hee might pacifie it instituted a feast which as the auncient Romane Calender and Ouid do set it downe was solemnized on the ninth day of the moneth of May Li. 5. Fastorum and by the Romans was called Lemuria which is as a man should say The feast of the Hob-Goblins Gli Farfarelli Maz zaruoli or Mazzapengoli Warre-Wolues or
A TREATISE OF SPECTERS OR straunge Sights Visions and Apparitions appearing sensibly vnto men Wherein is delivered the Nature of Spirites Angels and Divels their power and properties as also of Witches Sorcerers Enchanters and such like With a Table of the Contents of the severall Chapters annexed in the end of the Booke Newly done out of French into English AT LONDON Printed by Val. S. for Mathew Lownes 1605. TO The Kings most excellent Maieslie of great Brytaine France and Ireland c. Most gratious and dread Soveraigne AS it is a duty imposed vpon parents by Nature to provide for the education and maintenance of their infants so it is a priviledge allowed vnto the studious both by reason and custome to secure the fruits of their studies from the detractions of the envious by the countenaunce and patronage of some great personages either excellent for their vertues or eminent for their greatnesse Vpon this ground as also vpon some other speciall inducements I have presumed to present vnto your Highnes this Treatise touching the Apparition of Spirits and discoursing of the Nature properties and power both of Angels Divels Sorcerers Witches and such like One of the speciall reason inducing me herevnto is for that as the first Authour thereof a Frenchman and a Civill Lawyer did dedicate it to the Queene mother of Fraunce Katherine de Medicis a great Princesse to whom it seemeth in regard of his particular preferment he was specially obliged so my selfe his like in profession though wanting the meanes of like hope and fortune had a desire that this French stranger now made an English Denison might soiourne here vnder the royall protection of your Greatnesse whose excellency of puissance surpassing knowledge and princely vertues exempted from comparison have made you observed of the greatest admired of the wisest and endeered in the love and hearts of all good men A second Motive was the desire of the partie by whose Motion I vndertooke to bring him acquainted with the English who being a man worthily regarded of the best and not vnknown to your Maiestic did wish to have him presented to your Highnesse The third and last though not the least cause which drew both our desires to concurre in this point was that I may vse his owne wordes written to a great Peere of this Realme touching this Treatise Because your Maiestie hath heretofore most religiously and learnedly written of this Argument and hath concluded That Witches are the generation of Vipers and the seede of the wicked Serpent whose head you have also bruised both by divine lawe and by Act of Parliament Wherefore seeing this straunger is not onely a professed foe to all these damned artes and diabolicall illusions of Witches Sorcerers and Coniurers and to all their fauourers and adherents but like a stoute and most worthie Champion hath also overthrowne all their forces and troden their defences vnder foote All these reasons put togither do yeeld me a full assurance that as your Highnesse is best able so you will most graciously bee pleased to patronize and protect him and the rather because he is a straunger This fauour if your most excellent Maiestie shall vouchsafe him for mine owne part as my heart was long since vowed yours in all dutie love and fidelitie so my soule shall power it selfe foorth in prayers for the blessed preservation of your Maiestie in all happines both of temporall and eternall felicitie Your Maiesties Most faithfull subiect in all humilitie The Epistle of the French Authour to the Queene Mother of the King MAdame albeit the first subiect moouing me to write this Treatise of Specters was principally to confute certaine auncient Philosophers Atheists and Libertines who did hold and maintaine this opinion that there were not any substances in being but such only as were corporall and having bodies Yet so it is that I have not herein imployed my pen agaynst those whom both all the Bookes of the whole worlde and venerable antiquitie and even Nature it selfe have condemned so much as I have done agaynst certaine perverse spirits and brainsicke persons of our age who have invented most strange and variable opinions as also agaynst some new Dogmatists who to the intent they might secretly insinuate as I * This is but a suppose For it is no consequence because the soules of dead men appeare not that therfore they are not suppose into the minds of men an error of the Epicures That the soules of men have no being after death have altogether denied their apparition Howbeit that all the Doctours of the Church doe confute them and Saint Ierome particularly hath written thereof a certaine Booke agaynst Vigilantius the Gaule wherein he sheweth by lively reasons that the soules of the Saints after their dissolution may haunt or frequent these inferiour places Now Madame I knowing that you have in detestation all such Dogmatists and that your desire is above all things that our France should be purged of such monsters which as the same Saint Ierome writeth to Vigilantius could never endure or suffer such persons My desire was that this woorke of mine shoulde come foorth vnder the name of your Highnesse to the intent the same might march the more hardily vnder your fauour throughout France in despite of all detractions and malignant persons who will so much the more feare to assaile or reprove it when they shall see that it is vnder your protection and defence and that you have with a gratious countenance receyved it Madame I pray God the Creator to give you long life with encrease of greatnesse and prosperitie From Angiers this 21. of Iune 1586. Your most humble subiect PETER DE LOIRK To the learned Reader MY Maisters the worthinesse of this worke commended by some of good indgement and the friendly intertainment which you gave the Epirot Prince Scanderbeg when of French hee became English hath caused this stranger and a Frenchman to bee recommended vnto mee by my friend with a desire to have him brought acquainted with our English language and fashions To satisfie his request I have vndergone the paines and you are now if you please to reape the pleasure For having apparelled him as you may see in this English habit I do now send him vnto you trusting you will affoord him as friendly a welcome as you did to my French Epirot It may be hee will prove worthie of your liking and good acceptance For if I be not deceived in conversing with him you shall find both delight and profit delight by the varietie of sundry matters and variable Histories which he will discover recount vnto you profit in regard of his sound Arguments profound knowledge in all kinds of learning and philosophie accompanied with great reading and experience in the antiquities of the aucients both Iewes Arabians Greeks and other nations besides many things in him of worthy observation Amongst all which parts if in some points you find him not so sound a
a substance without a body presenting it self sensibly vnto men I say a substance without a body because that euery body must of necessitie haue longitude latitude and profunditie which otherwise wee call thicknesse and ought therefore by consequence to bee palpable and subiect to handling which in Spirits is not possible who clothing themselues with an ayrie bodie and being of themselues substances without bodyes are not palpable neither can be touched with the hand But of this we will entreat hereafter more at large and of this point especially Lib. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whether the diuels haue a body of ayre as Origen maintained or whether they bee pure and simple Spirits and may enter into a dead body and moue the same as if it had sense and feeling which is a thing that happeneth very seldome and is against the nature of Spirits and Apparitions It followeth in our definition which presenteth it selfe and appeareth vnto men sensibly I say to men because Specters doe neuer appeare to any other creatures but vnto those which are reasonable Numeri 22. Homil. 13. in Numer sub finem And although wee read in the Bible that the Asse of Balaam saw the Angel yet as Origen writeth That was contrary to his owne proper nature not onely that it perceiued and sawe the Angell but also that God opened his mouth and made him to speake So that both the one the other of these points is in very truth an impossibilitie to all beastes and vnreasonable creatures aswell for that they want the Organ or instrument of mans voyce as also for that they neither haue reason whereby to discerne Specters Phantosmes from true bodyes nor yet vnderstanding whereby to be illuminated with the bright beames of discerning superiour things which doe onely enter into the consideration of the soule and into the discourse iudgement of humane vnderstanding The consideration wherof hauing with some preuailed more theÌ„ was fit who being not able to conceiue in their thoughts how an Asse should be able to see an Angel or to speak they were perswaded moued thereunto peraduenture with the authoritie of some Rabbins that the Asse was a Diuell disguised which Balaam by force of his magicke Charmes had coniured to cary him toward Balaac But in my opinion there is neither reason nor any apparance of truth in their saying But we ought rather to take the very litterall sense and meaning of the Scripture and to thinke that it was a very naturall Asse and not forged and framed by enchantments Moreouer it is added in the definition of a Specter that it presenteth it selfe against Nature That is to say against that common order of things which naturally is established in the world since the creation thereof So that all Apparitions aswell of Angels as of diuels may be accounted as myracles and doe neuer shewe themselues but that they presage and fore-shew something Besides this word against Nature doth put a difference betweene the name of a Specter or Apparition and those which the Latynes call Prodigium and Portentum The former of which the Hebrewes name Mopheth wee not hauing any apt tearme for it may call it a Prodigie and the latter for that we cannot otherwise name it in our language we may likewise call a Portent Lauater saith Portentum is a betokening of strange things to come in time Nowe the Prodigie doth differ from a Specter in that it commeth naturally happeneth often yet notwithstanding doth alwayes presage some euill or strange thing to come And the Portent is when certaine Coelestiall bodyes vnusuall and vnaccustomed of which notwithstanding a naturall reason may be rendered doe appeare in the avre as Comets or Blazing-starres Flashings of fire Lightnings in a cleere and faire weather and others of this kind which doe alwayes presage some euil to ensue after a certaine season For so doth Fostus Pompeius define Portentum and all the Grammarians after him Some may say vnto me That a Mouster is also against nature and that therefore my difference is of no strength nor certaintie But the answere is easie because I sayde before That a Specter is a substance without a body which putteth a notable and plaine difference betweene a monster and a Specter For a monster is a liuing creature and by consequence a corporall substance which is borne or brought foorth hauing strange members or is of another kinde then that wherof it is engendered This therefore shall suffice for the definition of a Specter or strange Sight and Apparition CAP. II. Of the diuers Names and tearmes which are often vsed in the matter of Specters IT will not bee amisse if now in the Discourse following wee deliuer and explane all those termes and auncient Names by which both the Hebrewes Greekes and Latynes haue vsed to expresse and name all kindes of Specters both good and bad to the which we will also adioyne those of the Arabians and of other moderne and later Authours both French and Italian to the intent that nothing may be wanting whereby this our Discourse may bee beautified and enriched Of the seuerall names of good Angels The good Angels doe alwayes take their Names their vertues and their properties of God as Michael Gabriel Raphael and by the two principall Languages to wit the Hebrew and Greeke they are named by the Name of Messengers For Malach in the Hebrew signifieth a Messenger and commeth of the vnusuall word Luach which signifieth to declare or denounce And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greeke doe denotate asmuch The Arabians doe a little change the Ebrew word and do call an Angel Melech as is often read in the Alcoran of Mahomet Moreouer in the same signification of a Messenger or Coelestiall Ambassadour is taken also the Hebrew word Chasmal whereof as I thinke was deryued the auncient name of Chasmillus by which both the Thuscans and Latines in former times did name and designe Mercurie the Messenger of the Gods For as wee shall shewe in another place the greatest part of the names of the Paynim Gods both those which they placed in the Heauens as also their home-borne or countrey Gods and their Infernall Gods likewise were drawne from the Hebrewes The which if Chrisippus had vnderstood he would not haue laboured and toyled himselfe so much to finde out the Etimologie of their Names In lib dena â—uâ— Deoâ—um as hee did as Cicero witnesseth of him Moreouer the Angels are called Ruhhoth that is to say Spirits which Dauid also testifieth saying Râ—h in the Aâ—â—bian tongue iâ— an Aâ—gel commeth of Ruach a Spirit Osè malachau ruhhoth Who maketh his Angels his Spirits placing Ruhhoth in the plurall number as if hee would haue vs to vnderstand that Intellectuall and Spiritual things such as are pure subtill and separated from all confused grosse and ayrie matter were made Angels by God the Creator And
Idilio prime And it seemeth that Theocritus did esteeme him the diuell of the Mid-day saying That he was very terrible and to be feared when he presented himself that houre Theocritus doth place the choler in the ende of the nâ—stâ—ls So in the Heb we Ap doth expresse both the one and the other And hee bringeth in the sheepheards conferring and one of them speaking thus No t is not good nor safe to sing at Noone I le feare God Pan who then to wrath is prone Redoubted â—an whom cruell fiercenesse haunteth When that has choler at his nostrils hangeth And in very truth it is not without reason to thinke That Pan is the Diuel of the Mid-day because that all Deuils that are in any sort terrestriall and materiall as Pan doe loue the Sunne as Psellus affirmeth and the greatest force which the sunne hath is at Midday And this may very well serue to interprete that Fable which recounteth how Pan loued Eccho which Macrohuis interpreteth to be the Sunne which beeing as the harmonie of the world Pan loueth and followeth perpetually Of the deuil of Mid-day what it meaneth But seeing wee are now intreating of the Spirite or Diuel of the Mid-day It is to be vnderstood that the same is a certaine diabolicall and pestilentiall blast or puffe of winde the most dangerous that may bee I say a blast or Spirit that commeth from the Desert as is written in Iob and destroyeth ouerturneth Iob. 1.19 and breaketh downe all that it encountreth or meeteth withall Likewise Dauid nameth it Cetch Psal 9.5.6 Iashud tsahorim That is to say The Diuel that â—poilethand destroyeth at noone day For Iâ—shud signifieth the Diuel and is deriued of Shad hauing the same signification And it is to bee marked That Dauid there setteth downe three sorts of deuils very horrible and fearefull The Arrow that flyeth by day that is to wit the secret temptation of the Diuell made vnder some faire pretence which is so dangerous that it sooner striketh and hurteth then can be perceiued whence the blowe commeth Secondly the Plunge or trouble that is the Diuel For the Hebrew hath Deber which walketh in the darkenesse or during a darke and obscure tempest or storme for the word Ophe doth import both the one and the other And certaine it is that in the night and during any strong and violent tempest the Diuel hath great power and puissaunce either to tempt men or to afflict and torment them both visibly and vnuisibly as wee shall haue occasion to shew in another place The third and last is The Plague that destroyeth at Noone-day or the Diuel of the Mid-day In lib. Iob. which Origen writeth to bee more violent in his tempations at that houre then at any other time or houre of the day and if he doe then appeare hee is more furious and abounding in rage and furie This sort of Diuels the Hebrewes do name Meririm and Reshaphim That is Diuels raging in furie at Noone-tide Pestilentiall Diuels Burning Diuels that with their breath or touching onely do kill and destroy as appeareth by that Diuell of the mid-day the which as Procopius maketh mention shewed himselfe in his time Lib. 2. de bello Persico Of the Diuell or Spirit called Empusa the history we shal take occasion to recite in another place The Greeks gaue it the name of Empuse which both Suydas the Scholiast of Apollonius haue noted interpreting it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Aristophanes doth very pretily describe it where he bringeth in Dionysius his seruant Xanthias going downe into hell to bring Euripides from thence back again into the world where as they were arriued Xanthias crieth out vnto him in this maner X. Oh I perceiue a beast most horrible and strange D. What beast tel me X. I know not It doth change Her forme into a thousand shapes for sometime It s like an Oxe and straight it is a mountaine Sometimes it seemes a woman of great beautie D. Oh where is she where is she shew her to me I le go and giue her battel presently X. But O good Gods what strange sight do I see Euen in an instant she her shape hath altered And from a woman is to a dogge transformed D. Oh then t is an Empusa X. A sparkling flame Shines brightly glistring round about her face Her eye through piercing her looke is inhumane A logge of brasse supports her in her pase Of the Spirits called Familiars But this shall suffice touching the Diuel of the mid-day after which next commeth to be considered those Spirits which the Greeks cal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are those that the Magicians do vse to shut vp in a viall or boxe or in some character or cipher or in a ring which they carry about theÌ„ Lib. lection antiqua And it seemeth that Celius did not vnderstaÌ„d this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wheÌ„ he vndertook to interpret Eusebius whom he did rather make more dark and obscure then giue any light vnto him as it was euer his custome so to do with al good Authors But if we will rightly interpret it word for word it may be tearmed a Diuell giuing Counsell or a Familiar Diuell giuing his aduice vnto such as haue made a compact conuention with him Of Diuels that speake out of the bodies of persons De defect Oracul Next to these Spirits there are others not much differing from them are those that entring into bodies doe speake through the bellies of the parties possessed with them The Greeks called them Pythons Engastrimythes or Euriclees as Plutarch affirmeth And the Hebrewes named them O bim Of the Spirites called Incubi in English the Night-mare Thâ—â—lde 〈◊〉 â—â—xicoÌ„ 〈◊〉 way 〈…〉 the 〈…〉 incubus 〈◊〉 Lab 15. de Ciâ—â—â—ate Dei. There be also a kind of Diuels or Spirits in the sorme of men whose delight is in lasciuiousnes are as wanton lecherous as Goats of whoÌ„ as I suppose amoÌ„gst the Greeks Pan was esteemed the chiefe commaunder howbeit the Latines do tearme him Incubus I haue read in some Hebrew Doctours that the Prince of these Diuels is called Haza wee in Fraunce doe call them Coquemarres and Folletts and the auncient Gaules as S. Augustine affirmeth named them â—râ—sâ—es or Diuels of the Forrests And their nature is as the same Doctour sayth to desire to rauish and force women Lib. eodem 4. quaest in Genesim in the night time to go into their beds to oppresse theÌ„ striuing to haue carnall companie with theÌ„ O the spirits called Succubi The like doe those Spirits which are called Succubi which are diuels passiue as the former actiue taking the forme of women doe seeke to enioy their pleasure of men Of which Succubi the chief Princesse or Commandresse is called by the Rabbins Liluh That is to say An Appâ—rition of the Night The Iâ—wes in theâ—r prayeâ—s at â—â—â—â—ing
a perpetuall daunce vpon the waters and that in dauncing and leaping they approach and come neere to Marriners or Sea passengers and so to guide and conduct them to their desired Hauen Now daunses or leaping and vawting in measures haue neede of nothing as saith Aristotle but onely of Number measure and true cadence Finally the Nymphes of the Land haue the Voyce Of the land-Nymphes and that the Voyce is proper to them Fatum or Fate whence deriued That the Nymphes are no other then Diuels proper vnto them And for the most part they are fayned to be Diuiners Prophets and Poets as Egeria Hersilia Carmenta the Camenae and the Goddesse Fatua the wife of Faunus of whome I may deriue the name of Phataa that is to say Destinye and where of is come the Latine word Fatum Now for a conclusion of al this Discourse certainely if all these Nymphes of which I haue spoken haue at any time appeared vnto men It can not be imagined but that they must needes be Spirits and Diuels And the truth is that euen at this day it is thought that in some of the Northerne Regions they do yet appeare to diuers persons And the report is that they haue a care and doe diligently attend about little Infantes lying in the cradle that they doe dresse and vndresse them in their swathling clothes and do performe all that which carefull Nurses can do vnto their Nurse children And surely the Auncients had the same opinion of them For the Poets say that Iupiter was kept in his Infancy of the Nymph or Fairie Melissa and that Bacchus as soone as hee was borne was carried away by the Nymphes or Fayries Nysa was saide to be nurse of Bacchus and of her he is cal led Nyseus to bee nourished by them in the Denne or Caue of Nysa and that by them Hylas a yong lad was rauished and carried away Antinous taken and Adonis pulled away from the Barke of the Myrrhe tree which was his mother transformed and Metamorphosed To be short if I should recite all the Fables which are written of them I should neuer make an ende Onely this I will adde that those Fairies or Nymphes which I said did attend about little Infants to dresse them as Nurses may well bee those Diuels or auncient Goddesses which were said to haue the charge of the birth of Children and for that cause were named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But I would gladly knowe and learne who did put it in the heades of olde folkes and other simple persons and Idiots that the Arcades the Theaters the olde Fountaines or Water Conduits the Bathes and Great stones pitched vp aloft Of diuers olde famous works and buildings supposed to be the works and dwellings of the Nymphes were the workes of the Nymphes or Fayries Was it trow ye because it hath beene continually held and commonly thought that the Spirits and Nymphes or Fayries haue loued ruinous places and that for this cause the olde ruines of great proud admirable buildings decayed haue bene said to be the houses dwelling places or the workes of the Nymphes Surely as touching their inhabiting in ruinous places Esay witnesseth it where he saith Esay 13. That the Syrens or Nymphes shall possesse their houses and there make their retrait abiding The dwellings of the Nymphes described in Homer and Virgil are sufficiently well knowne that they were in dennes or caues farre remoued and concealed from the sight company of men builded wrought by themselues in the naturall rocks hard stone And Homer for his part hath so well and perfectly described the Caue of Ithaca where these Fayries did abide that Porphyrius hath taken the paines to interpret and explane at large the ingenious order of their building and Arctitecture At this day is to be seene the Caue of Sibylla Cumana neere to Naples of which also Iustin Martyre doth partly make mention and sayeth that the report went how in that Cell she wrote her Prophecies Besides the Temples of the Nymphes called by the Greekes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and of the Latines Lymphaea were alwayes situated without the Citties and Townes in solitarie places and farre remoued from any dwellinges as appeareth by the Lymphaeum of Rome which was on the other side of Tyber and stoode alone and aside fró the Suburbes And so did the other Téples caues of the Nymphes whereof Strabo and other Authors haue written But seeing wee haue sufficiently discoursed of the names of Angels Spirits and Diuels It is requisite that we now set downe the reasons and arguments of those men that deny their Apparition to the ende we may to the vtmost of our power confute and refell them CAP. III. Of the Opinions and Arguments of the Saduces and Epicures by which they would proue that the Angels and Diuels do not appeare vnto men MAny there haue bene at all times and in all ages which haue impugned stiffely denied the Apparitions of Diuels Angels and Spirits But some haue done it in one sort and some in another For there be some who to ridde themselues altogether from the question and disputation that might be made concerning particular and special matters which are often alledged in regard of the Apparition of Specters doe bend themselues against them all in generall That so by cutting of the roote and vndermining the foundation of a Principle well grounded they may the more easily cause the ouerthrow and downefall of all that which dependeth vpon the same They deny therefore Of the severall opinions of sundry sorts of persons thâ—t de nvâ—d the being of spâ—tus c. their Apparitions that there are any Angels or Diuels at all or any Spirites seuered and abstracted from a corporall substance or bodie to the ende that by consequence they may inferre and conclude that there are not likewise any Specters nor Apparitions of Spirites Such were the Saduces as we may read in the Actes of the Apostles and the Epicures Actes 23. The first opini on of the Saduces Epicures other Atheists and the greatest part of the Peripatetickes and all sortes of Atheistes whatsoeuer Of which last there are at this day more huge numbers abounding within this our Realme of France then would be tollerated These men would not sticke to affirme if they durst and were it not for feare of the Magistrate that it is free for men to abandon themselues to all kinde of iniquitie impiety and dissolute liuing for so doe they murmure and mumble when they are alone and by themselues that there is not either God or any Spirits at all good or euill nor yet any hel where the souls of men shuld suffer any paines or punishment but that they dye together with the body And that all whatsoeuer is saide or alledged touching hel torments is nothing but a vaine and superstitious toy and fable onely to make babes and children afraid and to wrappe
and tye the greatest persons of the world in certaine bonds of a religious superstition for so are the wordes of Lucrece in this behalfe And I doe beleeue that they do often say in their harts that which Pithagoras the Samian is alledged in Ouid to haue saide to the inhabitants of Crotona in Italie Why stand you thus in feare of Styx and such vaine dreamings Of Manes and of Spirits which are nought else but leasings Certainely hee that should take vpon him to instruct these Athiests should but loose his time because they will admit of no reasons no not of those that are meerely natural For seeing they do not beleeue him which hath the commaund and rule of nature how can they yeeld any credit or beleese vnto those reasons that are drawne from nature it selfe Other persons there are who The second opinion beeing more religious and honester men then those former yet haue no lesse denyed the essence of Angels Diuels and Spirites Howbeit they haue beene of this opinion that by reason both of the distance betweene them and vs and of the difficultie of appearing in a humane body they cannot possibly present themselues vnto vs Others also there haue beene who haue referred all that which is spoken of the vision of Spirites The third opinion or the Sceptickes and other followers of the Philosopher Pirrhon vnto the naturall and perpetuall deprauation of the humane senses Such were the Sceptikes and the Aporreticks who were the followers of the Philosopher Pirrhon as also the second and third Academie who held That the senses were they neuer so sound could not imagine any thing but falsely and vntruly Againe The fourth opinion some others with more apparance of reason then the Scepticks haue affirmed that aboundance of MelÌ„acholy Choler adust frensie feuers the debilitie or corruptió of the senses be it naturally or by accidét in any body may make thé to imagine many things which are not And they do infer that such as happen to be attainted with these maladies do think that they haue seene Diuels and other such like Specters They adde moreouer that the feare superstition and credulitie of many is such that they will most commonly suffer themselues to be drawne into a beliefe and perswasion of that which is quite contrary to truth To make short The fist opinion of Lucian and others Others there be wise enough and fine conceited yet neuerthelesse being great mockers and incredulous because they themselues did neuer happen to see any vision nor haue euer heard or touched any supernaturall thing they haue beene of this opinion that nothing could appeare vnto men that exceeded or went beyonde the course of nature Lucian an Infidell Atheist and Scoffer And of this number Lucian was one who being also as great an Infidell as any could be saide I beleeue no part of all these Apparitions because I onely amongst you all did neuer see any of them And if I had seene of them assure yourselues I would beleeue them as you doe NotwithstÌ„ading for all this he opposed himself against al the famous and renowned Philosophers of his time and held argument against them though as himselfe confessed they were the chiefest and most excellent in all kinde of knowledge and learning And hee was not ashamed to stand onely vpon his own bare conceit and opinion impudently maintaining without any reason at all against them that were as wise if not more wise then himselfe and more in number that forsooth nothing at all whatsoeuer was said or alledged touching Specters ought to be admitted or beleeued But what reasons I pray you doth he bring to confirme his saying Truely none all but that onely of his owne absolute and vncontrowled authoritie hee will drawe to his incredulitie all others whome hee seeth to bee assured and settled in their opinion Notwithstanding that they are certainely resolued of the truth by the exteriour senses with which they haue perceiued and knowne that to be true which so constantly they doe maintaine and defend But how can it possibly bee that a man should thinke without any shew of reason by incredulitie and mockery onely to confute and ouerthrowe that which hath beene euer of all men and in all ages receiued and admitted Certainely this is the fashion and guise of mockers and scorners that that which they cannot deny nor yet haue a wil to confesse they will finde the meanes to put it off with a â—est and laughter and so thinke secretly to insinuate themselues into the mindes and conceites of their hearers especially such as looke not nor haue a regarde to the truth and substance of a thing but onely to the outwarde shadowe and grace of wordes and glorious speeches Such a scorner needeth not any great knowledge because it is sufficient for him to bee superficially skilfull in any thing so that hee can with a kinde of graue smiling grace shift off the reasons and arguments of those whose knowledge and learning is so exceeding farre beyonde his as during his whole life he will neuer attaine vnto the like Thus did Machiauel carrie himselfe who amongst the learned Machiauel a Scoffer and an Atheist and men of skill and iudgement knewe well how to make his profit of his scoffes and pleasant grace in iesting whereby he would many times strike them out of countenance in the sight of them that heard him whereas if he had come to dispute with them by liuely reasons and solid Arguments hee would at the very first blowe haue beene ouerthrowne and confounded But in the ende hee discouered himselfe sufficiently and was reputed of all men no other then a Scoffer and an Atheist In Musas as Paulus Iouius testifieth of him But wee will cease to speake any further of him of Lucian and of those of their humor and will returne to our matter touching Specters the which that wee may the better explane now that wee haue briefly declared the diuersitie of opinions of those that insist vpon the contrarie wee will aunswere vnto each of them in order as they haue beene propounded And first as touching the Sadduces the Epicures the Peripatetickes wee will seuerally answere their Arguments which they obiect against vs Next wee will remoue those difficulties which are obiected and shew how the Angels and Diuels may take vpon them a bodie Afterwardes wee will shewe and discouer vnto the Sceptickes that the humane senses are not so faultie and vncertaine as they would make men beleeue And last of all to the intent we may leaue nothing behind wee will not forget to shew by what maladies and infirmities the senses may be hurt and troubled and the Imaginatiue power of man wounded and chaunged so as all that which is supposed to be seene is meerely false and vntrue To come first of all to the Sadduces It is most certaine The opinion of the Sadduces that of all men they were the most
colour as Homer describeth her Mercury was painted like a young man hauing his eyes alwayes open as one that was euer waking with bright yellowe hayre and a yellowe downe vpon his chinne and cheekes as if it did but newly begin to frizzle or to curle Venus had her eyes delicate and wanton and her lockes of golde yellow Iuno had grosse and thicke eyes rising vp towardes her head like vnto the eyes of an Oxe And so generally were the rest of the Gods painted by the Gentiles in diuers formes and fashions Notwithstanding all this proceeded of nothing else but from the errour of our Imagination which suffereth it selfe to bee deceiued and seduced by the painting which imprinted in it a kind of false notion I say a notion because the ignorant common sort of people is perswaded of the same and suffereth it to take place in their minde or vnderstanding which is as easie also to be deceiued as is their Imagination But a man of wisedome and iudgement who hath his vnderstanding more cleare and open is not easily therewithall seduced but notwithstanding al paintings and fictions his Intellect or vnderstanding power pierceth through the Imagination as the Sunne pierceth or shineth through the cloudes and spreading it selfe with her light doth easily beleeue in a spiritual manner that God and the Angels are Spirituall The second Argument of the Epicures The second Argument of the Epicures touching the humane bodie of God was that God tooke vpon him that forme which was or could be imagined to be the most beautifull in the whole world And they say that the humane forme or shape is of all others the most goodly and excellent And therefore wee ought to thinke that God is carnall and corporall as men are Hereunto needeth no answere to bee made because the consequence of their argument is not good Answere to the 2. Argument viz. That God should retaine vnto himselfe the Figure of a man because the same is the most excellent of all other creatures in the world For the Diuinitie of God neither is nor can be in any corporall substance But it is an Incorporall and spirituall essence which hath nothing common with that substance which is proper vnto these earthly creatures The 3. Argument of the Epicures The third last argument of these Philosophers is a Gradation or heaping vp of Syllogismes which kinde of argument the Greekes call a Sorites and they frame it in this sort It is held and confessed of all that God all other celestial powers are exceedingly happy But no person can be happy without vertue And vertue cannot bee present in any without reason and reason can bee in none but in the figure and shape of man Therefore it must bee granted that the Gods which haue the vse of reason haue the forme of man also But the whole frame of this Argument Answere to the 3. Argument may soone and easily bee dissolued by denying that reason can bee in no other then in a humane shape For both God and the Angels who haue a diuine and spirituall vnderstanding haue the vse of reason notwithstanding that they be not of a corporal substance And reason in man commeth not of the humane body but from the soule of man which is Spirituall Diuine made vnto the likenesse of God and capable of reason of prudence and of wisedome Now whereas it might be obiected to the Epicures That in making their Gods to haue a humane bodie they doe therein make them subiect to death and dissipation To auoide this absurditie Absurdities in the opinion of the Epicures they doe tumble into a greater affirming that their bodie is as a body and their bloud as bloud not hauing any thing but the lineameÌ„ts proportioÌ„ of a man being exempted froÌ„ all crassitude thicknes which in a word is asmuch as to say that their Gods were rather Idols of men theÌ„ very men and rather framed by the paterne of men theÌ„ as men in truth substance which is a thing the most ridiculous that can be imagined But will some say To what purpose serueth all this touching our matter of Specters I haue saide before that the Saduces did maintaine God to haue a bodie to the ende they might the better deny the appearing of Specters which are substances without a bodie Also the Epicures made their Gods to haue bodies that so they might holde them in the heauens idle and doing nothing and by consequence might deny their Apparition vpon Earth Of the opinion of the Epicures who thought there were no Diuels nor Spirits In vita Bruti For as touching Diuels or Spirites they beleeued there were not any but did confound them all in the number of their Gods And that they did but make a iest of Specters appeareth by the speech of Cassius in Plutarch and in that that Celsus halfe an Epicure writing against the Christians Lib. 2.6 8 â—â—â—tra Celsum did denie them flatly and absolutely as is to bee seene in Origen who hath aunswered him and did reproue the Christians in that they would allowe of any powers or Spirites contrary to the Gods supposing according to his owne saying and opinion that there were no Diuels Besides that hee made a mocke and a iest of Angels and of the Resurrection of the bodie and generally of all those Apparitions which were made both in the old and new Testament And now that wee speake of contrary powers Contra Stâ—ices it putteth mee in remembrance of a speech of Plutarch who reproueth Chrisippus for that in this vniuersall body of the worlde so well ordained and framed he should graunt so great an inconuenience to wit that there should be a kinde of Diuels afflicting and tormenting men to the disturbance of the concord and harmonie of the world Which being well ordained by the Authour and maker thereof ought not to bee thought to beare or sustaine any thing which should be incommodious to it self and by lapse and coÌ„tinuance of time should worke the confusion and destruction of the same But it seemeth that Plutarch repreheÌ„ded Chrisippus vpon a desire and humor of contradiction rather then moued vpon any iust cause or matter of truth For the diuels do not worke any domage or inconuenience to the world being bridled restrained by the hand and power of God And if they do torment men or tempt them it is to exercise them or to manifest the glory and iustice of God of the which they are sometimes made the executioners S. Bernard in Sermone 1. de transla S. Malach Diabolus inquit malleus calest is opificis factus est malleus vniuersa terra And as in each Common-Wealth well instituted there bee executioners ordained for the punishment of Malefactors and such as trouble and disturbe the publicke peace and good of the common-weale and yet the vniuersall body of the coÌ„mon-weale is not therby offended
soundest and best part of men did hold and maintain And amongst other things he did ever shew a minde and disposition in the greatest part of his bookes to call in doubt and question the apparition of Specters In the which notwithstanding he doth mervelously repugne and contrary himselfe not knowing if there were any specters or if there were none somtimes alledging the authority of Psellus sometimes that of Facius Cardanus his owne father Both which did constantly maintaine the Specters and Apparitions of divells and especially Facius Cardanus who had not onely one spirit and familiar but seaven all at one time which did reveale vnto him and acquaint him plainely with many strange and goodly mervailes and sometimes affirming that all whatsoever was spoken and reported of the Apparition of spirits and Specters was nothing else but ieasts tales and leasings But this shall suffice for the discussing of Cardan his reasons and opinions Let vs now therefore proceede to refute the opinion of those which affirme that the Angells and divells cannot take vpon them a body like vnto this of ours CHAP. V. Of the Arguments of those which deny that the Angells and Divells can take vnto them a Bodie THey which doe deny that the Angells and divells can take vnto them a body do not ayme at the marke to deny their essence as do the Saduces but they doe it onely to disprove and impugne their Apparition For it is a good consequent If the Angells and divells take not vpon them any body then can they not appeare And if one should reply vnto them and say That in our spirit and vnderstanding the Angells and divells may give some shew and token of their presence To this they have their exception readie That things spirituall and intelligible and all sorts of intelligences doe represent themselves by things that are sensible Wee will see therefore by what reasons they indevour to proove First objection to proove that Angells and divells cannot take vnto them a body that an Angell or a divell cannot take a body vnto them No body say they can be vnited to an incorporall substance but onely that it may have an essence and a motion by the meanes of that substance But the Angells and diuells cannot have a body vnited in regard of any essence for in so doing we must conclude that their bodies should be naturally vnited vnto them which is altogither vntrue and therefore it remayneth that they cannot be vnited vnto a bodie but onely in regard of the motion which is a reason of no sufficiencie for the approving of their opinion For thereof would follow an absurditie in regarde of the Angels to wit That they might take all those bodies that are moved by them which is a verie great and grosse errour For the Angell did move the tongue of Balaams Asse and yet he entred not in his tongue And therefore it cannot be said that an Angell or a Divell can take a bodie vnto them Answere to the first Argument or obiection To this Argument I answere That true it is that an Angell and a Divell cannot to speake properly take vnto them every bodie that is moved For to take a bodie signifieth to adhere vnto the bodie Now the Angels and the Divels do take vnto them a bodie not to vnite it to their nature and to incorporate it together with their essence as hee that taketh any kinde of meate for sustenance much lesse to vnite the same to their person as the sonne of God tooke vpon him the humane nature But they doe it onely that they may visibly represent themselves vnto the sight of men And in this sort the Angels Divels are said to take a bodie such as is apt fit for their apparition Cap. 15. calest Hierachiae as appeareth by the authoritie of Denys Ariopagyte who writeth that by the corporal forms the properties of Angels are knowne and discerned The second Argument Againe they say That if the Angels and Divels doe take a bodie it is not for any necessitie that they have but onely to instruct and exhort vs to live well as do the Angels or to deceive and destroy vs as do the Divels Now both to the one and the other the imaginarie vision or the tentation is sufficient and therefore it seemeth that it is not needfull they should take veto them any bodie Answer to the second Argument I answere that not onely the imaginarie vision of Angels is necessary for our instruction but that also which is corporall and bodily as we shall show anone when we intreate of the Apparition of Angels And as concerning the Divels God doth permit them both visibly and invisibly to tempt vs some to their salvation and some to their damnation Moreover they thus argue The third Argument Li. 3. ca. 11. 12. That God appeared vnto the Patriarchs as is to be seene in the old Testament and the good Angels likewise as Saint Augustine proveth in his Bookes of the Trimitie Now wee may not say that God tooke vpon him any body except onely in that mysterie of his Incarnation And therefore it is needlesse to affirme that the Angels which appeare vnto men may take vpon them a bodie Answer to their third Argument I answere as doth Saint Augustine who sayth That all the apparitions which were in the olde Testament were made by the ministerie of Angels who formed and shaped vnto themselves certaine shapes and figures imaginarie and corporall by which they might reduce and drawe vnto God the soule and spirite of him that sawe them as it is possible that by figures which are sensible men may be drawne and lifted vp in spirit and contemplation vnto God And therefore wee may well say that the Angels did take vnto them a bodie when they appeared in such apparitions But now God is sayde to have appeared because God was the butte and marke whervnto by vision of those bodies the Angels did endevour and seeke to lift vp vnto God the soules of men And this is the cause that the Scripture sayth That in these Apparitions sometimes God appeared and sometimes the Angels Their fourth Argument Furthermore they make this obiection Like as it is agreeing naturally to the soule to be vnited to the bodie so not to be vnited vnto a bodie is proper and naturall vnto the Angels and Divels Now the soule cannot bee separated from the bodie when it will Therefore the Angels and Divels also cannot take vnto them a bodie when they will For answere whereof I confesse that everie thing borne and ingendred hath not any power over his being Answer to their fourth Argument for all the power of any thing floweth from the essence thereof or presupposeth an essence And because the soule by reason of her being is vnited vnto the body as the forme thereof it is not in her puissance to deliver herselfe from the vnion of
thing and in working man in it which is proper vnto God onely Howbeit that God doth not make a part in the essence of any thing For God is a substance seperated and abstracted solely and onely in it selfe And for the further interpretation of Saint Ierome and the Glose which say That the divell is not in images wee may affirme that they do privily and closely reprehend the false opinion of the Paynims and Idolaters who made but one thing of the Idoll were it of wood brasse or stone and of the vncleane spirit that remained within it and by that meanes would have made a living substance of that which in it owne nature was sencelesse and without life not having eyther hands to touch withall or feete to goe on or tongue to speake with except such onely as the divell did seeme to give vnto it by his deceitfull illusions Their fourteenth Argument To make short they obiect this argument also If the Angells and divells do take to them any body eyther they are vnited vnto The whole body or to some Part thereof If they be vnited onely to a Part thereof then can they not moove the other part but onely by the meanes of that part which they do moove But this cannot possibly be for otherwise the body assumed should have such parts as should have the Organs determined to the motion which is proper to none but living bodies But if the Angells and divells be Vnited immediately to the whole body it behooveth them then also to possesse everie part of that body which they have taken to them and so by that meanes they should be in many places which is proper and appertaining to God onely And therefore the Angells and divells cannot take any body vnto them Answer to their fourteenth Argument To this argument answer may be made in this manner That the Angell or divell so taking any body vpon him is wholy in the whole body which it assumeth or else in a part thereof as the soule is in the body For albeit he be not the forme of the body which it assumeth as is the soule yet so it is that he is the moover thereof Now it behooveth that the moover and the thing mooved should be together And it is nothing to the purpose to say that an Angell or divell filling a body whole and entyre of substance can be in divers places for the whole body assumed by an Angell or divell is not but in one place onely albeit the same be admitted to have many members and many parts Thus farre have I done my best both to set downe and to refute all the reasons and arguments obiected by those who deny that Angells and divells can assume and take vnto them a body to the intent that from hence forth their mouths might be stopped and that they may not esteeme as fables the histories of Specters and of the Apparitions of spirits Of the opinion of the Iewish Rabbins touching the Apparitions mentioned in the old Testament But before I come to conclude this discourse I may not forget to tell you how that many of the Rabbins and Iewes which have taken vpon them to interpret the holy Scriptures have held opinion and beene of the beliefe that those Angells which appeared to the Patriarkes and Prophets did not appeare in any body nor did assume vnto them any body to make themselves visible And of this opinion amongst others was Rabbi Moses one of the most learned Rabbins of the Iewes who said That all that which is read and recorded in the olde Testament of the Apparition of Angells did come by an imaginarie vision that is to say sometimes in sleeping and sometimes in waking But this position as Saint Thomas of Aquin calleth it The Aquin quest de Miracalis Arti. 7. cannot prevaile against the truth of the Scriptures for by the phrase and manner of speeches which are vsuall in the bookes of the old Testament it is easie to know and discerne a difference that which is signified and declared to have Appeared purely and simply to our eyes from that which is said to bee done by the meanes of a Propheticall vision For when it ought to be vnderstoodâ— that any Apparition was made by way of vision there are some words put downe and insert which doe properly appertaine to the vision such as the Scriptures do intend as in Ezechiel Ezechiel ce 8. the spirit of the Lord saith he lifted me vp betweene the heaven and the earth led me into Ierusalem by the visions of the Lord. I say therefore that when it appeareth that things are said to be done simply wee ought to vnderstand them as done simply and truly Now we reade in the old Testament that many Apparitions have beene made in body And therefore we ought to grant that the Angells do sometimes assume and take vnto them a body in forming such a body as is sensible and subiect to the externall and corporall vision as well as some kinde of shapes do forme themselves in our imagination which do produce an imaginative vision when wee are sleeping But this shall suffice touching this matter Let vs come therefore to the Sceptiques whose manner is to doubt of all things and do make a question whether our senses be true or not CHAP. VI. Of the opinions of the followers of Pirrhon Sceptiques and Aporretiques and what they alleadge to shew that the humane senses and the imaginative power of man are false HAving fully and amply satisfied those that deny the being of Angells and divells and the Apparitions of Specters Now remaineth to bee handled the last point that wee promised to speake of to wit Whether that which we doe perceive by our externall and outward senses sound and not corrupted or that which our imaginative faculty apprehendeth in working be false and not considerable And although this point doth not almost deserve to have any place in this Discourse by reason that the opinion of all men hath in all ages condemned such as have held nothing to be true and certaine of that which commeth and falleth vnder the senses Yet that we may make them to see at this day the errour and incredulitie of some mad-headed and braine-sicke Philosophers of former times like vnto our Atheists and Libertines at this day I was the more willing to set downe thereasons which mooved them to thinke That the truth of each thing was hidden from vs and that nothing could be comprehended but that which is false and vntrue But you must vnderstand that the source and first originall of this error came from Socrates who saide That he knew not any thing save this one thing onely The opinion and saying of Socrates to wit that he knew nothing But therein he was repugnant to himselfe for seeing that he knew some thing he shewed that he had at the least a certaine science and knowledge of that one thing And in saying
done by the Arte Hydraulique Next to the Antomatiques doe come those which are called Hydrauliques which are workes that doe make any engine or instrument eyther of musike or of any other sorte to play and moove by the meanes and helpe of the water At Tivoly which is the auntient Tibur of the Romans and is now a place of pleasance belonging to the Cardinall of Ferrara It is well knowne vnto many men that there be certaine Organs which do go and play alone of themselves onely by meanes of the water not without the great admiration of such as be ignorant in the Arte Mydraulique We reade in Suetonius In Nerone c. 41. that Nero caused certaine Hydraulique instruments which were of a new invention and never before had beene seene at Rome to be shewed publikely vnto the Romanes And yet Nero lived in a time wherein there were great store of excellent wittes and good Spirites And before him also there were others as notable and skilfull in such ingenious inventions as namely that man which lived in the time of Tiberius Caesar and was so excellently ingenious that he offered vnto the saide Emperour to make any glasse so malleable as it should endure and abide the hammer which is a kinde of cunning to vs altogâ—ther vnknowne and is farre more difficult than those works that are doone by Hydraulique instruments Servius who lived in the time of Vulentiman and Theodosius was not ignorant of these instruments wrought by the Arte Hydraulique For in expounding one place of Virgil hee saieth that the Organs were blowen and had winde put into them by meanes of them And hee rendreth the reason thereof which as hee saith is that by the mooving of the water there riseth a winde which entring by the hollowe pipes of the Organs dooth disperse it selfe within them and there remaineth no more but the fingers of the Organist to make them sound But that which maketh me most to woonder is That those Organs of Tyvoly have not neede of any fingering by the cunning and industry of any man but they doe found alone of themselves and have within them something I knowe not what of the Arte Antomatique For a man needes doe nothing but onely set downe certaine numbers vpon their keyes and they will sodainely sound any song that a man would have them And such also is that Antomatique horologe or clocke which the Rochelers did present vnto the French king Henry the third of that name The which being mounted vp and set vpon a frame did the like as that Hydraulique of Tywoly Clandian who was neere about one and the same time with Servius in a certaine learned Poeme which he dedicated to Manlius speaking of these Hydrauliques saieth very well That by opening the Sluces of water the Organs are made to blowe But heerewithall saieth hee there needed both hands an engin of wood which with the helpe of the feete at each stroake might lift vp the waters as we see is vsuall in Pumpes that drawe vp water But that you may the better perceive the meaning of Clandian I will set downe his two last verses touching this matter the same being corrected by mee otherwise than they were heeretofore Intonat erranti digito pedibusque trabali Vecte laborantes in Carmina concitat vndas Those learned Authors which heretofore corrected this Poet after the manner of the auntient reading did let still remaine the word penitùs insteede whereof I doe reade pedibus For Clandianus meaning was to say That the Organist played with his fingers vppon the Organs and with his feet moved a flat beame or planke by the meanes whereof as by a Pumpe he lifted and drew vp the waters This correction whether it bee well or ill doone I referre to the iudgement of the learned But in my conceipt that seemeth to be the true and proper sense of the Poet. But touching the Arte Antomatique and Hydraulique Eron hath made two Treatises thereof not yet Imprinted which I have seene in the Library of the most high and worthy Queene and Princesse Katherine de Medicis the Queene mother and they do wel deserve to be brought to light or to be translated either into our common vulgar language or into the Latine tongue Howbeit that some of my friendes have assured me That that learned man Adrian Turnebus hath translated certaine pages thereof before his death of the which his heires made no reckoning bicause they were imperfect and not well reviewed But over and above the Artes of the Mathematiques men of themselves may finde out and invent a thousand subtill devises farre estranged and remooved from the common invention of man Of artificiall Specters Cardan whome we have so often alleadged telleth how it is possible by subtiltie and artificiall skill to make that a man shall walke in the middest of the water vpon the very toppe thereof without sincking to the bottome by meanes of corke tied to the soales of his feete For my parte I thinke well That Cardan would not have delivered this subtilty except he had seene the proofe and triall thereof But if it bee so that this befeisible then I may say that those men whom any shall see to walke vppon the water in that manner will strike no lesse feare and terrour into the Beholders than Lucian and his companions did conceive as himselfe writeth by the sight of those Phellopodes or Corke-footed persons that walked vppon the waves of the sea Libr. 2. verar. narrat vbi nihil vericontin without sinking having their feete of Corke The same Cardan doth furthermore set down teach In lib. de varietat rerum how a man may faine artificially false Specters he giveth many instances experiments therof needles here to expresse But to continue on our purposed Discourse There are some of these Tumblers and Vawters so expert in their Aâ—t Of acts done by Tumblers V vvters and Iuglers that partly by the subtiltie and nimblenes of their hands and partly by the agilitie strength and dexteritie of their body and the quicknes and vivacitie of their spirit they will doe things passing admirable And as touching the fine convaying and nimblenesse of the hands can we give any better example then some Iuglers who in playing their trickes onely by meere industrie and without any Magicke will so charme and blinde the eyes of the beholders that they will make them bâ—leeve even what they list And as for the agilitie of the body I will alledge no other then those Tumblers of Italie whose perilous leaps and vawtings which they call the Forces of Hercules do make the simple and ignorant people to be of an opinion that they doe them by Art Magicke and Enchauntment although it be verìe evident that there is no such matter But on the contrarie rather there is nothing strange nor admirable in those their actions if a man do consider how even from their youth
of a long time forborne them and endured all the bravadoes and inventions that they could devise when at the last they vsed vnto him this speech Guido tu rifiuti desser di nostra brigata ma eccò quando in aurai trouvato que Iddio non sia che aurai fatto Wherevpon he retyring himselfe from them made them this answer Signori voi mipotetâ— dire à casa vostra cio che vipiace that is my Maisters you may say vnto me being at your owne home what you please meaning by that gentle frumpe that the sepulchres and churchyardes were the dwelling houses of such as they who molested him that is that they were little better then as dead men because they were ignorant and enemies to the learned Such an aunswer as this you shall hardly finde amongst all the Greekes and Democritus might well have spoken it to them that went about to make him afraide Notwithstanding the answer that he gave them did so touch them that knowing thereby his great constancie and assurance they left him in his sepulchre without counterfaiting themselves any more for spirits to molest or trouble him Common places of execution suspected for spirits to walke in Next after Sepulchres and Churchyardes the Gibets or common places of executions are greatly feared of the vulgar sort who do thinke that spirits do haunt and frequent there also And for that cause such fooles doe never cease haunting those places of purpose to feare and terrifie such as passe neere vnto the same To make short those places are so frightfull in the night time to some fearefull and timorous persons that if they heare the voyce of any person neere the place where any be hanging they will thinke it is their spirits or ghosts that doe walke thereabouts I remember me of a good iest which was once tolde me how in the Country of Mayne there was a fellow a notorious thiefe and murtherer well knowne vnto all his neighbours who by the sentence of the Lievetenant for criminall causes hee committed in Mauns was condemned to be hanged and strangled and was sent from thence backe to his owne Village wherein he dwelled to be executed and there to be set on a Gibbet standing vpon the high way from Mauns Some few dayes after his execution a certaine man travelling that way where his bodie hanged found himselfe verie sore wearied and laid him downe to rest vnder a tree not farre from the Gibbet But hee was scarse well setled to his ease when sodainly behold there commeth by another passenger that was going towards Mauns and as he was right over against the gallowes where the dead body hanged whom the partie knew well when he was alive he called him by his name and demanded of him with an high and lowde voyce as iesting at him if he would go with him to Mauns The man that lay vnder the tree to rest himselfe being to goe to Mauns likewise was very glad that he had found companie and said vnto the other Stay for me a little and I will goe with you The other to whom he spake thinking it was the theefe that spake vnto him hasted him away as fast as he could possible The man vnder the tree arising vp ranne after him as fast with a desire to overtake him and still he cried Stay for mee stay for mee but the other had not the leasure For his feare had set him in such a heate thinking still that the dead thiefe followed him at the heeles that he never left posting till he was quite out of breath Then was he forced to stay whether hee would or no and to abide till the other that followed did overtake him who by his presence brought him to be againe of good courage when he saw that his feare was meerely vaine and senselesse Now although as I have saide Churchyardes Sepulchres and Gibbets be common and vsuall places where vnhappie youthes doe make their resort to play the spirits yet so it is that sometimes their audaciousnesse passeth further Of counterfait spirits that vse to haunt mens houses for good cheere or lasciviousnes even to the dwellings and houses of men wher they have a hope either to carowse the good wine or to inioy their lascivious loves And thereof commeth the old French proverbe On sont filettes et bon vin Cest la où haute le lutin That is Where prettie wenches be and store of good wine There do the night-sprights haunt from time to time The tales of the Queene of Navarre and of Boccace are full of these dissembled spirits such as in the end have beene discovered not without receiving the due chastisement of their deserts And it is not to be doubted that if the true meaning of our lawes were pursued and duely followed Directarios qui in aliena caenacula furandi animo se conferunt Li. Sacularis D. de extraord crimimbus such lewd persons should bee as grievously punished yea and more severely then simple theeves For I know not better how to terme them than plain manifest Burglarers who do enter violently into other mens dwelling houses with an intent of stealing little other then felonious to whom our Civill Lawyers have appointed this punishment that either they should be sent to digge in the Mynes of mettalls or at least to suffer the Bastinado But that paine is too easie and gentle for them and I may well say that their behaviour doth deserve to bee punished with death as all privie and secret theâ—ves are according to the quantitie of the summe the qualitie of the persons and the circumstances of the places For their Act is farre more heinous then simple theft or fellowe Forasmuch as besides that they go with an intent to robbe and spoyle they do endevour also to sollicite and overthrow the honour and honest reputation of women of the which both the one and the other is punishable and especially if there happen any adulterie for that alone deserveth paines of death It is not once nor seldome that such sort of spirits have beene discovered by the Magistrate and sharply punished according to the exigence of the cause either with death or perpetuall infamie But it is not in our age and daies onely that these pranckes have beene vsed but even almost two thousand yeares ago or thereabouts Plautus in his Comedie intituled Mostelaria faineth how by a cunning sleight and devise of a servant an olde man his maister was made beleeve as hee came home from out of the Country that the spirits did haunt his house and that therefore both his sonne and he had forsaken and abandoned the same in his absence And this the servant did that he might the better cover and conceale the loose and dissolute behaviour of the sonne from the father and the better to colour the sale which bee had made of the house Of counterfait spirits affrighting folkes causing the death of persons by their
by very Arâ— and cunning and by meanes of certaine candles and fumigations will cause as hath beene before touched that a chamber shall seeme to be full of serpents albeit in very truth there be nothing lesse then serpents in the chamber and onely the eyes are deceived and deluded In the same sort howsoever the divell doth represent vnder the true forme of a man some woolfe horse mule or some such other beast yet neverthelesse the man doth still abide and remaine the same that he was and hee is not either changed or transformed in any fashion whatsoever but onely in the imagination of the phantasie which is possessed and troubled by the divell And this both all the antient Doctours of the Church and all the generall Counsells have determined and agreed vppon And therefore I cannot but marvel that there should be any men so obstinately addicted and wilfully wedded to their opinions as to bring in and maintaine against all antiquitie and contrarie to the Canons a new kinde of heresie the which they goe about to proove onely by such authorities and examples as they do wrest and pervert to their owne sense and meaning wherein they doe something savour of the error of Manes the father of the Manichees Qui aliquid divinitatis aut numinis extra vnum Deum arbitrabatur who did hold that there was a kinde of divine power besides that of the one onely God For he said that there were two creators the one of things earthly and materiall the other of things celestiall which doth even iumpe with the opinion of those men For to make the divell to have such power as to change the bodie of man into another forme what other thing is it then to give and attribute vnto him that power and puissance as to create a new forme and thereinto give him a kinde of prerogative over the body of man which is a thing onely reserved vnto God alone the creator of all things both visible and invisible corporall and incorporall But this shall suffice as touching Sorcerers and that transmutation which they do maintaine of humane bodies into the bodie of some other creature The which in very deede neither is nor can be doone but onely in apparance as wee have oftentimes formerly repeated and onely by the phantasie and imagination corrupted and deluded by the prestigious deceipts and illusions of the divell How and in what sort the fantasie of meÌ„ is possessed deluded by the Divell Now that we may not wander from that which wee have in hand wee will heere shew howe and in what sort the phantasie also is possessed by the divell eyther at such time as the humors of the body are disposed fit for it or when the person hath bin bewitched enchanted or else by reason of some other secret vnknowne to men and reserved to the knowledge of God alone For as it is most certaine and assured that the braine of man is the â—eaâ—e of the imagination and the phantâ—sie and that by the same by meanes of the organs and instruments proper and fitted therevnto the conceptions of the soule are vttered and brought foorth So if the Divell doe once perceive that the braine is troubled or oftended by any maladies or infirmities which are particularly incident therevnto as the Epilepsie or Falling evil Madnesse Melancholy Lunatique fittes and other such like passions He presently taketh occasion to torment and trouble it the more And by the permission of God seizing himselfe of the same he dooth trouble the humours amaze and confound the senses captivateth the vnderstanding possesseth the fantasie darkneth and blindeth the powers of the soule and speaking through the organs of the body being then fitted and made apte to bring to light his own conceipts and devises he then commeth to shew himselfe in his kind speaketh strange languages telleth of things that are chaunced and come to passe in diverse partes of the worlde prophecieth of things to come although for the most part he be found a liar and in briefe he worketh such maâ—vells and wonders as no man can beleeve are possibly able to proceed from any body of a humane nature Opinion and reasons of Levinus Lemnius other Physitians who doe attribute to Nature the strange effects of persons possessed with Divells Levinus Lemnius his opinion of men possessed with spirites Lib. 2. cap. 2. collect de occult nat miraculis cui adde Cornelium Gemmam qui de miraculis naturae itidem librum composuit This notwithstanding some Physitians there be in our time who will needes reduce this as also all other things which be supernatural to the ordinary course and working of nature and they imagine that they can yeeld a reason for the same which being well searched dooth discover it selfe to be most vaine and frivolous and cannot any way in the worlde be maintained Amongest others Levimus Lemâ—â—us discoursing of the secrets of Nature and being to handle this poynt dooth marvellously sticke vppon the contemplation of humane nature and of the force of the naturall humours For these are his wordes There is saith he a certaine wonderfull force and vertue which doth stirre vp the humors and a certaine vehement heate dooth disturbe and moove the imaginative power at such time as the sicke persons in the extreame and burning heate of their fevers do speake and vtter foorth sometimes openly and with a kinde of eloquence and sometimes confusedly and as it wâ—r stuttering and stammering such languages as they never knewe nor learned And it is most sure that there be some humours so sharp and violent that when they come to be enflamed or corrupted so as their fuliginous excrements doe strike vppe to the braine they will make those that are surprized therewithall to stagger and stuner in their speech not vnlike those that are overcome with wine and will make them to chaâ—ter and talke in a straunge language Now if this didd proceede of any evill spirites then would not the infirmitie cease by the Arte of the Phisitian and by purgative medicines or other drugges applied to the patients causing them to sleepe For we see that ordinarily by such â—edicines they doe returne into their right mindes and into their accustomed manner of speaking And for proofe hereof Levinus dooth adde That himselfe hath healed some sicke persons who in the fitte of their fever have bin very eloquent even so farre as they have pronounced a speech as if iâ— had beene an Oration deepely studied and most accomplished in all respects and yet the parties in the time of their health were very rude persons and little better than ideots After all this he goeth forward and beginning to ground himselfe vpon on certaine reasons hee saieth As it is most certaine that the boyling and arising of the humours is marvellous and exceeding hote and ardent and the stirring and agitation of the sensitive spirits is very vehement and above all this the troubling and
or endamaged but to the coÌ„trary rather it receiueth much more profite and commoditie Euen so God hath placed and left here below in this world Diuels and wicked Spirits to be as tormenters and executioners to wicked men that so his iustice might shine the more glorious to the comfort of the godly and of his elect that liue in the loue and feare of him But to come againe vnto the Epicures It is most certaine that they were no other then the followers of nature and that onely so farre as thinges did fall vnder their outward senses Of the Arguments of the Epicures mad against Specters and Apparitions And if one should alledge vnto them that any Specters Images and Visions had presented theÌ„ elues they would refer the same for the most part to the coÌ„course perpetual fluxe of their Atomes or to some other like reasoÌ„s the which we holde it not amisse to discouer and discipher at large as wee haue drawne them out of Ciccro Lib. de natur Dcorum Lib. 4. or of Lucrece All Images say they which doe externally present themselues vnto our senses either they are visible or inuisible If they be Inuisible The 1. Argument either they are created in the Ayre or in our owne mindes and conceites As touching those made in the Ayre It is not any straunge thing or abhorring from reason that in the same should be engendred certaine voyces like as wee see it is naturall that colde commeth from the Riuers ebbing and flowing from the Sea and heate from the Sunne And it may bee that some voyce being spred abroad within the vallies doth not only rebound back againe to the place from whence it came but doth dilate and scatter it selfe here and there throughout the Ayre as do the sparks that mount vp from the fire So that for one voyce there are many engendred which ruÌ„ning through the empty Ayre do enter within the eares of those that knew nothing of the naturall voyce and doe put them into a misconceit and fond opinion that they haue heard either some of the Fayries or Satyres or Nymphes playing and sporting amiddest the woods As concerning those Their 2. Argument that are bred in the minde They say Atomes signis fie motes in the Sunne or things so small as cannot bee deuided that for the innumerable course of Atomes all whatsoeuer wee doe dreame or thinke of commeth incontinently into the spirit or minde and sometimes passeth by visions and Images into the bodily eyes But if the Images be visible either they are â—euerberated and beaten back from the Chrystall and transparent Ayre exceeding cleere in her superficies or they come of the Spoyles and Scales of naturall thinges Their 3. Argument Touching the Ayre That it may of it selfe cast some kinde of Image hauing power to appeare they proue it in this sort Al Aire that is Chrystalline or transparent hath a kind of refraction as appeareth by the mirrour whereof looking Glasses are made and polished and by the water and by a thicke and darkened Ayre And this do the Catoptickes themselues teach in their principles Catoptikes are professors of the Optikes or Arte Speculatiue Now by the comparison and similitude of the mirror and the water all Ayre which hath a refraction doth of it selfe yeeld some certaine forme And therefore it is not any thing strange if in an Ayre a man may see certaine formes and Images And they do bring also this comparison Euen as the Tapistrie hangings in a Theater or a large wide hall do cast abroad round about their naturall colour where they finde an Ayre opposed against them and the more that the beames of the Sunne do beate or shine vpon them the more bright and shining luster they carry with them seeme to haue cast off and left their colour in the same place which is directly in opposition against them So is it most certaine that the Ayre may of it selfe cast abroad certaine formes and figures the which looke by how much the more they be made cleere by the light which doth bring and tye them to our obiect so much the more comprehensible shall they bee vnto our sight In briefe concerning the spoyles and scales cast from naturall things of which in their opinion Their 4. Argument Images should be engendred They do make this ArgumeÌ„t The Caterpillers say they do leaue their spoiles in the hedges or bushes like vnto theÌ„selues so do the SerpeÌ„ts among the thornes or stones and the little creatures at the time of their birth do leaue behinde them their after burthen which is a little thinne and slender skin which they bring with them from their dammes belly Why therfore may there not be left or cast from the bo dies of natural things certaine thinne subtill forms or Images proceeding from them aswel as a little skin and the after burthen doth remaine of the superfluitie of little creatures But all these Arguments may verie easily be dissolued Answere to their 1. argument The voyce defined what it is And first as touching the voyces which they say may simply be created of the Ayre I will not deny that For it is most certaine that the voyce is a certaine beating and concussion of the Ayre which falleth vnder the sense of hearing as is affirmed by the Grammarians And the matter of the voyce as sayth Galen is the breath Lib. de Voce and respiration of the Lungs but the forme thereof is the Ayre without the which neither can it be vnderstood nor can it bee called a voyce Besides I will not deny but that the sounds are raysed within the emptie Ayre bee it either by the windes or by some other externall cause But to say that the voyces and the sounds are naturall and adherent to the Aire as the Tide to the Sea and coldnes to the Riuers and heat to the Sun It would theÌ„ follow that without any externall cause at all both the voyce and the senses should bee created in the Aire should perpetually adhere vnto the Ayre as the Tide doth to the Sea and cold to the waters and heat vnto the Sun But so it is that the winds are not alwaies in the Ayre and the sounds and voyces are externall thinges comming into the Ayre by the meanes of some other subiect the which is nothing so neither in the Sea nor in the Riuers nor in the Sunne because that in the Seas the Tide and cold in the waters and heate in the Sun are vnseparably and continually And there is great difference betweene Accidents that are Separable and those that are Inseparable For the separable Accident as the Voyces and the Soundes in the Ayre may bee abstracted and drawne from the substance of the Ayre and yet the Ayre shall neither perish nor be the sooner altered thereby But ebbing and flowing cannot bee taken from the Sea but the nature thereof must needs bee chaunged Nor